Erwin Bernard Templin, Jr., was a Lieutenant (Junior Grade) in the United States Navy when he went Missing in Action in North Vietnam (over water) on 22 January 1966. Templin was born on 24 December 1940, and his home city of record is Houston, Texas. |
SAR Destroyers / The "Stoof"
In early 1966, there were several search and rescue (SAR) destroyers parked off the coast of North Vietnam in the Gulf of Tonkin. When the attack and fighter people would egress, they would be there to assist a cripple or pick up a guy who had to punch out or ditch. During the night when the strike activity would ebb, the SAR DDs would steam around their small areas waiting for the next day's activities. It was during these night and early morning hous that high speed surface contacts would probe their positions. The "Stoof" (S2D) helped provide air cover for these surface ships. The Stoof was technically an anti-submarine aircraft, but had little call to exercise submarine missions in Vietnam. There were only a few of such planes assigned to Vietnam at all.
If a ship thought its position were being probed by enemy boats, it would vector the Stoof out over the target. The Stoof tactic was to drop a parachute retarded flare from about 10,000 feet over the target, circle back around at a low altitude (about 300 feet) and investigate. If the target were unfriendly, then the S2 would engage and destroy it. There was a certain amount of risk involved in these operations, as the Vietnamese PT boats had radar that enabled them to strike with no visual contact.
The Incident
On 22 January 1966, Lt. Cmdr. William S. Forman, pilot; then Lt. JG Erwin B. Templin, co-pilot; Aviation Mechanic-Airman Apprentice Robert R. Sennett; and Aviation Mechanic-Airman Edmund H. Frenyea comprised the crew of an S2 Tracker. At approximately 0245 hours the aircraft launched from the deck of the USS Hornet on a routine search mission in the Gulf of Tonkin. During this time their aircraft was under the advisory control of the US destroyer, USS Berkeley (DDG-15). In the first four hours of the mission, the crew reported no unusual circumstances nor had they seen anything of interest. The control center aboard the USS Berkeley reminded them that their mission should be concluded shortly and they were to return to the USS Hornet.
Receipt of this information was acknowledged by Lt. Cmdr. Forman. He also advised the control center they had a surface contact to investigate before departing the area. Shortly after their last transmission, the Stoof disappeared from the radar scope and was thought to have gone below the radar. At 0645 hours and after being off the radar scope for five minutes, an extensive search and rescue (SAR) effort was initiated. During the initial search no contact could be established with the aircrew, and no trace of the aircraft or its crew was found.
Within a few hours of the aircraft's disappearance, Radio Hanoi reported that an aircraft was shot down near Bach Long Vi Island. That island is located approximately thirty miles from the last known position of the Tracker which was in the Gulf of Tonkin about halfway between the major coastal city of Thanh Hoa, North Vietnam and Hainan Island, China.
A close friend of Lt. Templin's was part of the SAR effort. According to him, the weather was clear with absolutely no wind. In fact, the Gulf of Tonkin was so calm that there was not a ripple on the surface, so objects floating great distances could readily and easily be seen. The search parties found no trace - no oil slick or debris indicating where the aircraft went down. According to Erwin Templin's friend: "Our squadron was uniquely qualified...we had the right kind of airplane and were working in the immediate area (of the loss) and more importantly...we cared. We found nothing."
Additionally, Lt. Templin`s friend stated that before he rotated off the USS Hornet, one of the Intelligence Officers took him to a secure area of the ship and told him that some very high-level intelligence had been forwarded to the ship identifying one or more of the crew members from that aircraft were positively seen as prisoners in North Vietnam. The Intelligence Officer would not elaborate further on what that high level information was. The friend fully expected at least one of the Tracker's crew to be returned during Operation Homecoming, and was surprised when none were returned.
On 1 February 1966, the aircraft's four-man life raft was spotted off the coast of North Vietnam by other search aircraft roughly 152 miles from the last known position of the downed aircraft. This location is consistent with the winds and currents that existed during the ten day period they had been missing. The raft showed no sign of damage by gunfire.
On 14 March continuing search efforts found and recovered the helmet of one of the crew members. Damage to the helmet indicated the aircraft impacted the water in an uncontrolled manner rather than in a controlled ditching in a light sea. Based on available information, it is believed that helmet probably belonged to Edmund Frenyea. When nothing else could be found to shed light on the fate of the crew, Bill Forman, Erwin Templin, Edmund Frenyea and Robert Sennett were all listed Missing in Action.
Personal Information
Erwin Bernard Templin, Jr. is a graduate of the United States Naval Academy.
Sources
Biographical and incident of loss information was obtained from either POW/NET and/or Task Force Omega, Inc (unless otherwise noted). Additional information may be found via remembrances at The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund or The Virtual Wall Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
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