The
USS Coral Sea participated in combat action against the Communists as early as August
1964. Aircraft from her squadrons flew in the first
U.S. Navy strikes in the Rolling Thunder Program against targets in North Vietnam in early 1965 and participated in Flaming Dart I
strikes. The next year, reconnaissance aircraft from her decks returned with the first photography of Surface-to-Air Missile (SAM) sites in North
Vietnam. The A1 Skyraider fighter aircraft was retired from the
USS Coral Sea in
1968. The Coral Sea
participated in Operation Eagle Pull in 1975, evacuating American personnel from beleaguered Saigon, and remained on station to assist the crew of the
MAYAGUEZ, which was captured by Cambodian forces in
1975. The attack carriers
USS Coral Sea, USS
Hancock and USS
Ranger formed Task Force 77, the carrier striking force of the
U.S. Seventh Fleet in the Western Pacific.
One of the aircraft that launched from the decks of the Coral Sea
was the Grumman E2A
Hawkeye. The
E2A was a strange-looking aircraft, with twin turboprop engines, four vertical stabilizers (three of which were actually necessary for controlled flight, the remaining surface being added for appearance’s sake), and a large, 24-foot diameter radome which rotated at six revolutions per minute, on a pylon directly above the
fuselage. The E2A mission was airborne early warning, vectoring fighters and strike bombers to and from targets on the ground, as well as airborne threats of MiG
interceptors. The Hawkeye was literally the aerial nerve center of the fleet, controlling bomber strikes and
MiG-killing missions with equal facility.
Lt.
Junior Grade Charles
B. Pfaffmann was an E2A pilot assigned to Carrier Early Warning Squadron 116 onboard the
USS Coral Sea. On April 9, 1970, he and his co-pilot LT Larry
C. Knight and technicians Seamen Brian
L. Bushnell and Andrew
A. Horchar Jr. were launched in their E2A Hawkeye on a routine mission over
Vietnam. Immediately after launch, the aircraft crew reported a fire and their intention to return to the
ship. LT Pfaffmann’s aircraft impacted the water about three miles ahead of the CORAL
SEA. A rescue helicopter and escort destroyer were on the scene within
minutes. No survivors were seen, and no remains were recovered.
The crew of the Hawkeye is listed among the missing because their remains were never found to send home to the country they
served. They died a tragically ironic death in the midst of
war. But, for their families, the case seems clear that the men died on that
day. The fact that they have no bodies to bury with honor is not of great significance.
For others who are missing, however, the evidence leads not to death, but to
survival. Since the war ended, nearly 10,000 reports received relating to Americans still held captive in Indochina have convinced experts that hundreds of men are still alive, waiting for their country to rescue
them. The notion that Americans are dying without hope in the hands of a long-ago enemy belies the idea that we left Vietnam with
honor. It also signals that tens of thousands of lost lives were a frivolous waste of our best men.
http://www.usscoralsea.net/pages/pow.html#horchar
