May 2008
For those of you who may have not known, Committee Member Waldo Born died unexpectedly on 20 December 2007. We will miss him as a good friend and a very capable researcher, and principle person interacting with widows of deceased Candidates. We are attempting to organize his records, which will be very important to the success of the Study.
The progress of the Combat Aviation (AvMidn) Study was delayed this past year by several major health problems in my family, and the unexpected death of Waldo. As you are also aware, we are all around 8o years old, and many of our capabilities are starting to or have already diminished. Therefore, the Committee is striving to complete the Study with some urgency.
To date the investigation has found 34 Aviators with high probably of being Combat AvMidn, and of these the Study has received partial or complete supporting documentation from 19 Candidates. The Study is also working with the survivors of five deceased AvMidn to help locate and collect supporting documentation. The remaining ten (shown below) were identified as Combat AvMidn through other research, though up to now, no contact with them or their survivors has been established
Ed Phillips and I (the Committee) have decided to primarily focus our efforts on the preparation of the Study based on documentation now in hand. If additional supporting documentation is received, we will include these results provided it does not delay the completion of the Project. All germane documentation not included, regardless when submitted, will be included in an Annex to the final Study, so that future researchers will have access to all the Candidate data that was collect by this effort.
Any information that you can provide to help locate the following AvMidn or survivors would be appreciated.
George (n) Kinsel, 4-49, VP-28 Tommy L. Burgess, VPHL-6
Robert C. Baker, 15-49, VR-5 John M. Key, 15-49, VR-3
Joseph W. Gardiner, VP-46 John R. Palmquest
Davis W. Tompkins, VR-5, 15-49 Richard A. Trethric, 16-48, VP-47
James B. West, 15-48, VPLH-6 Brian P. Bertstrand, 18-48, VP-28
Thank you for any assistance you may provide to aid the Study achieve its goal of documenting this important US Navy historical event.
Bill Campbell, 9-47, Committee Member Ed Phillips, #83, Committee Member
1109 Springdale Road 22449 Sylvan Street
Anderson, SC 29621 Woodland Hills, CA 91367
Phone: 864-225-6362 Phone 818-999-1398
Email: avmidn@netscape.com ephill44@aol.com