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Dedicated to: Rank/Branch: O1/US Navy Unit: Fighter Squadron 96, USS Ranger (CVA-61) Date of Birth: 11 February 1941 (New York NY) Home City of Record: Brockport NY Date of Loss: 09 April 1965 Country of Loss: China/Over Water Loss Coordinates: 091801N 1082604E (BL182290) Status (in 1973): Killed/Body Not Recovered Category: 5 Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: F4B Other Personnel In Incident: Terence M. Murphy (missing) REMARKS: CRASH AT SEA AFT COMBAT - J SYNOPSIS: Ltjg. Terence M. Murphy was a pilot assigned to Fighter Squadron 96 onboard the aircraft carrier USS Ranger in the Gulf of Tonkin. On April 9, 1965, he launched with his Radar Intercept Officer (RIO) Ensign Ronald J. Fegan in their F4B Phantom fighter jet. They were to fly a Combat Air Patrol mission over the Gulf of Tonkin. Ltjg. Murphy and other mission aircraft engaged enemy aircraft at approximately 8:40 a.m. some 25 miles from the nearest land. After breaking off the engagement, Ltjg. Murphy's aircraft did not check in with the flight leader and was neither seen or heard from again. An aerial and surface search of the area turned up no evidence of a plane crash, seat ejection or emergency radio beacon. Search and rescue efforts covered an area of 2000 square miles utilizing aircraft from three carriers, destroyers and a submarine. The search was terminated on April 11 with negative results. It was later discovered the the MIG aircraft that were engaged were not Vietnamese, but Chinese. The incident took place near the Chinese island of Hainan. Peking Radio stated later that day that eight U.S. military planes had intruded over the areas of Aihsien, Paisha and Changkan of China's Hainan Island. They further stated that Chinese planes immediately took off to engage them and that a U.S. aircraft had been shot down by other U.S. planes. Careful investigation revealed no basis of fact to support this claim. Both crewmen were listed in a status of Missing In Action. This status was changed three weeks later to Determined Dead/Body Not Recovered. With absence of evidence, it cannot be known with certainty that Fegan and Murphy went down with their aircraft on April 9, 1965. If, by some chance, they bailed out successfully and were captured by military or civilian Chinese, we will probably never know it. History has shown that Americans disappearing in Chinese territory never come out. Several hundred Americans were known to have been captured and held by the Chinese from the Korean war, never to be seen again. Critics point to a lack of resolve to raise this sticky issue with the Chinese on the part of the U.S., while the U.S. asserts that it is doing all it can to determine the fates of those men as well as that of Ronald Fegan and Terence Murphy. I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to keep pushing this issue inside the Beltway...The need to get specific answers is more important now than ever before. If still alive, some MIAs are now in their 70s...They don't have much time left. We have to demand the answers from the bureaucrats and keep standing on their necks (figuratively speaking) until they get the message that THEY work for US and that we are serious about getting these long overdue responses. Diplomatic considerations aside... We can no longer allow questionable protocols established by pseudo-aristocratic armchair strategists, to determine or influence the fate of the men who were in the trenches while the diplomats were sharing sherry and canapes and talking about "Their Plans" for the future of SE Asia. Send E-mail to YOUR representatives If you'd like to see what some others are doing in addition to writing their congressmen, senators and the Whitehouse, check out some of these sites: Other sites of interest
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Lady Jen!
