Whidbey Patrol Squadron Memorial Veteran’s Memorial Park   Pioneer Way   Oak Harbor, WA

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The Airmen Named on the Memorial

THE WHIDBEY PATROL SQUADRON MEMORIAL IS DEDICATED TO ALL UNITED STATES NAVY PERSONNEL WHO SERVED IN NAVY PATROL SQUADRONS BASED AT NAS WHIDBEY ISLAND AND TO THE MANY WHIDBEY AIRMEN WHO LOST THEIR LIVES IN VP OPERATIONS.   WE HONOR THEM ALL

When the Whidbey Patrol Squadron Memorial committee first began to consider the daunting task of creating a memorial in Oak Harbor, Washington, one of their first concerns was the intended scope of the memorial.  Should it memorialize all the personnel in all the U.S. Navy patrol squadrons?  Or should it be more localized to honor just those who served in patrol squadrons based at NAS Whidbey Island?  The committee envisioned a wall as part of the memorial with the names of airmen who had died serving their country in patrol squadron operations.  It was decided that the memorial should concentrate on those who served and those who died in NAS Whidbey-based VP squadrons.  Committee members began the research necessary to gather all the names of those whose sacrifice would be remembered on the wall.  It was expected to be a huge task since the names needed would date back to World War II, and there would be large numbers of fatalities from that period alone.     It soon became apparent that there is no central repository of the names of those who died in VP operations.  It was expected that the Naval Personnel Command or the Naval Safety Center or the Naval Historical Center or the Naval Archives would have that information on file and easily retrievable, but such is not the case.  Even the Naval Safety Center has no records of aircraft mishaps that include the names of those who died.     Not only is there no central source of information on those who died in VP operations, there is also no reliable source of all the aircraft mishaps that led to those fatalities.  The memorial committee, which took on the name “Whidbey Patrol Squadron Memorial” committee owing to their chosen scope of the memorial, was faced with the realization that it was up to the committee itself to generate the names of the airmen who should be honored by the memorial.  Thus began a time-consuming search that continued for several years to create an accurate list of names that would appear on the WPSM wall.  To a man, the WPSM committee members pledged that the memorial would only list the names of deceased airmen if the committee could guarantee that it had absolutely correct information including dates, ranks/rates and the spelling of the names.  This information was to be carved in granite.  Inaccuracies could not be permitted.     Before long, the WPSM committee realized that the wider the scope of the research they were doing, the less likely it would be that the final product would be error-free.  There was absolutely no way to identify all of the VP fatalities over the sixty-plus years of Whidbey-based VP operations, let alone doing it with any accuracy.  In order to ensure 100% accuracy, the committee was forced to narrow the scope of its research to cover only P2V mishaps.  They wanted to include other aircraft types, and were encouraged by veterans of other squadrons to include other aircraft types, but the inconsistencies of the information available to the researchers made a larger scope impossible to achieve.     The list of names on the Whidbey Patrol Squadron Memorial wall only includes fatalities from P2V operations, but the memorial itself is dedicated to all who served in the NAS Whidbey Island VP community, and particularly to those who lost their lives.  The dedication statement above in blue on gold is carved into the Memorial wall.     Among Those Lost in P2V Operations 4 November 1948 – VP-1 LCDR Albert B Hall, Jr LCDR Wilbur W Titsworth LTjg Edward T Swientek ADC James J Lytle AD1 George L Cole, Jr AL1 George E Egeter AO1 T Vernon Rudd AD2 John F Duval AE2 John H Wood 27 November 1950 – VP-4 LTjg Sylvester H Linn, Jr ENS George H Irelan AL1 Malcomb B Farris AD1 Frank Zitkovich AOAN Harold T Neely 18 December 1950 – VP-931 LT Lalonde M Pinne LTjg Roy T Anderson ENS James F Morris MIDN George B Hogaboom ALC Milton E Berquist ADC Walter W Whitehead AOU1 Edward G Lunn AL2 Frederick J Sinclair AT2 Robert C Stockton AF3 Verl L Hancock ATAN James F Christiana   15 June 1951 – VP-2 LTjg Ben W Sevier   2 January 1953 – VP-1 AD3 Harold R Canning     4 January 1954 – VP-2 LT Jesse Beasley LT Fredrick T Prael ENS Stanley B Mulford ENS Paul D Morelli ADC Robert G Archbold AL2 Rex A Claussen AD2 James F Hand AT2 Lloyd B Rensink AT3 Bruce D Berger AO3 Gordon Spicklemier   11 May 1959 – HATUPAC LCDR William F Wade Ltjg Edwin J Bruner ADJ3 Harry A Hartwell Ltjg Hilton L Cutler, Jr ENS Vernon L Garner ENS Carl D Johnson AD1 Jack H MacMillan AM1 George F Robertson AOC Joseph E Foltz 11 January 1963 – VP-17 LT William L Carter LT Paul W Dannell LTjg Richard T Healy AD2 John A Cole AD2 Russel S Feldmann AT2 Merlin J Haas AM3 Charles A Treat August 1964 – VP-42 AN Robert Davis 8 September 1964 – VP-42 LCDR John C Thomas ADR1 Deloss W Anderson, Jr AE2 Weslie D Mewborn AM1 Michael J Ulicsni AO2 Donald F Marit   13 April 1966 – VP-1 ADR2 Randolph P Vedros 27 November 1964 – VP-2 LT L Dennis Wilson LCDR Raymond H Walker LTjg Richard A Meyers LTjg Douglas M Smith ADR2 Harold M Ley ATN2 William A Laugesen AO2 Howard G Brantley ADR3 Bobby J Crum AE3 Thomas J Gould AXAN Michael A McDaniel AN Joseph L Lyons LT William A Dotson (Obs) 14 December 1967 – VP-42 LCDR Maynard L Howard Ltjg Kenneth C McCoy Ltjg Gary A Klessig Ltjg Peter S Stewart ADR1 Earl D Rouse AT1 Teddy L Wood AE2 Dale A Armour ATN2 Vito Muti ADR3 Roy T Cole AO3 James P Franklin AXAN Ray O Wadley AE1 Billy H Mallams (Pass) AN Thomas D Edwards (Pass) SP5 G W Lotze (Pass) The Airmen's names are on panels that flank the center panel facing the statue, benches and the flag pole further west.

The Whidbey Patrol Squadron Memorial is sponsored by the Patrol Squadron Two Association