Does anyone remember rescuing the sailor that fell off the aircraft carrier. I believe it was the 66 cruise. We picked him up in a matter of minutes after he fell off. I will never forget the look on his face when they brought him aboard.

I remember that we were always plane guard. We were the only ones that could keep up with the carrier. There were two instances that I can remember that a plane went down. We never found anything of one but our guys from the Cochrane found a boot with a foot in it and a few fingers from the other. Kinda morbid but true.

Itwas on the 1966 cruise. We were chasing the Kearsarge. If I remember right he was only in the water for 10 min. or less.

I remember that also, Bosun mates had that guy pronto, a picture was in the Cruise book. Does anyone recall the A4 Skyhawk that blew up while trying to land on a carrier we were plane guarding??? Not much left but confetti & the pilot was still in his chute when picked up by the Cochrane

Allan R. Harris

I was on board for both events. I recall that the guy who fell off the carrier wasn't in the water long enough to get wet. The deck apes did a super job of retriving him.
I saw the A4 blow, and the pilot eject straight into the water. Took a lot longer to get to him, but I'm sure he died on impact. First body I saw as a result of the war.

As I remember the helo with the doctor(s?) from the carrier arrived at about the same time as the Cochrane's boat was being hoisted back aboard. The vision of the carrier's (I think it was the Big "E") medical people and our own corpsmen working on the pilot, still in the boat hanging from the davits, is very vivid in my mind. I was and still am very impressed with their effort to save someone that was un-savable. No one uttered a word except those working on the pilot. True professionals.
The pilot, another guy, just like us, just doing his job, who didn't get to go home like the rest of us. We all need to remember him and the other 50,000+ plus guys who didn't get to go home.