WELSH-JAMES

KILLED  IN  FIRE  ABOARD  USS  ORISKANY  - 10/26/1966

October 26, 1966, was a catastrophic day aboard the carrier USS Oriskany.  At 7:28 hours, as the ship prepared for flight operations in the Gulf of Tonkin off the coast of North Vietnam and was stowing ordinance from night operations, a crewman accidentally activated a magnesium flare, and for reasons known only to him, he threw the burning flare into a magazine locker and dogged the door shut.  The locker contained rocket warheads and the flare, burning at 3000 degrees, quickly caused warheads to explode.  General quarters quickly sounded and firefighting teams attempted to cool the area near the burning locker and were unable to fight the fire directly. 

After about ten minutes the pressure inside the locker blew out the locker door causing the fire to quickly spread, ignite a helicopter located nearby, and as the fire intensified, the entire forward portion of the carrier was affected.  Fire, heat and smoke was drawn forward into berthing quarters and working offices.  As flames spread it became necessary to evacuate officers’ country, staterooms occupied largely by pilots.  Within minutes several men in officer’s country were killed when a fireball shot down the passageway.  Others were suffocated.

Before the fires were completely under control, 44 crewmembers had died and 156 had been injured.  Beside the material damage to the ship, two helicopters and an aircraft were destroyed, and three aircraft were damaged.  Estimated cost of the material damage was eleven million dollars.

Unfortunately, Lieutenant Junior Grade James Raymond Welsh was one of the casualties.  Readily available historical records are scarce concerning him and specific details of his death are not available.  Records report he was a graduate of Penn State University, joined the Navy in 1961, and was one of eight officers assigned to HC-1.  Two of the officers were flying when the fire occurred and upon their return to Oriskany, only one HC-1 officer met them as five of the officers died in the fire.  It can be assumed LTJG Welsh was a victim who was overcome in his working or birthing space and was unable to escape the scene.

Six weeks prior to the Oriskany fire, on September 16, 1966, LTJG Welsh participated in the rescue of 44 crewmembers from the British ore carrier SS August Moon which was forced by a hurricane to ground on a reef south of Hong Kong.  A helicopter from HC-1 was lost during the rescue and LTJG Welsh was later posthumously awarded the Air Medal for his performance in the operation and rescue of two HC-1 pilots whose helicopter sank during the rescue.

The body of LTJG Welsh was recovered and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery where his grave marker carries the inscription:  LTJG – USNR – VIETNAM – AM & GS.  He was survived by his parents and sister residing in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania.

               

                       USS ORISKANY ON FIRE

Submitted by CDR Roy A. Mosteller, USNR (Ret)