| Date: 23 September 1968 |
| Aircraft type: A-4F Skyhawk |
| Serial Number: 155015 |
| Military Unit: VA-55 |
| Service: USN |
| Home Base: USS Hancock |
| Name(s): |
| Lt Cdr Dale Harrison Osborne (POW) |
| On an armed reconnaissance mission a section of Skyhawks made an attack on a barge using Zuni unguided rockets. The barge had been found on a waterway 10 miles north of Vinh but the area was well defended by AAA. The section leader made his first run and fired his Zunis but as he was pulling up Lt Cdr Osborne (call sign Garfish 507) reported flak and was then hit himself. A 37mm shell entered the cockpit and severely injured Lt Cdr Osborne to the extent that he was unable to control the aircraft. He was knocked unconscious but he came round and, with difficulty, managed to eject and was soon captured. Shrapnel from the anti-aircraft round had shredded Osborne’s left leg and he was so badly wounded that twice on the long journey to Hanoi his captors thought he had died and were about to bury him when he regained consciousness just in time. Once in a POW camp he received medical treatment from the North Vietnamese that saved his life and he was nursed back to health by his cellmate, Lt Cdr Brian Woods who had been shot down on the 18th. Dale Osborne was still in poor health in 1973 and was released in the first batch of POW repatriations on 12 February 1973. He had served with the USAF in the early 1950s but joined the Navy in 1956. He had flown a variety of aircraft including the P-2 Neptune and T-28 trainer and had also flown the S-2 Tracker from the USS Kearsarge during its deployment to Southeast Asia in 1966. |
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