David Leroy Ramsay

West Point, 1964

Be Thou At Peace

Posted by Elden Ray on January 18, 2016:

Captain Ramsay was a member of the 4th Tac Fighter Squadron; he was very personable and talked it up with us enlisted guys when he came out to kick the tires, we really enjoyed his camaraderie. I was the crew chief of the F-4 he flew that fateful night, it was about midnight when he and his back-seater Cpt. James Wood came walking out on the flight line and entered the revetment where my bird was parked. There was a light rain falling cloaking everything in a wet gray veil and as usual, he was talkative and shared many of his thoughts as we walked around doing ground checks before he climbed in the cockpit where I strapped him in and armed his seat. It was about an hour and half later when news came that his plane went down. That night has stayed with me since, I remember it vividly and my last words to him just before he taxied out. Captain Ramsay was rather distraught about the mission that night and talked to me at length as we did the ground checks. After finishing the pre-taxi checks, I looked up to him and said your flying the best bird in the squadron and pointing to the ramp said I will be there waiting for you. He just looked at me, nodded and then I marshaled him out. I had already set up the gear on the ramp for aircraft recovery and was standing in the rain when the line truck stopped and relayed the bad news. I went into a shock of disbelief and demanded to be told again, I stood there for a couple of minutes, recovered, and still in a state of shock and disbelief, carried on.

admin