Bear Taylor 
RIPPLE SALVO… #315… IN MEMORY OF LCDR ARTHUR TYSZKIEWICZ, UNITED STATES NAVY, who perished alone in a Laotian jungle fifty years ago this date. Art was more than a good man and good friend, he was my Best Man. We had known each other as Naval Aviation Cadets in 1955, he in NavCad Class 32-55, me in 34-55. We were together through Flight School and we both “plowed back” to spend 18-months logging 1,000 hours of flight instructor duty before our first fleet assignments. We shared dozens of Friday nights in and around Trader John’s, but never before Art made his weekly stop at a Pensacola Catholic Church to praise the Lord and parley with the Padre. We split in 1959 with Art going West and me to the Atlantic Fleet. Fate brought us together again in Carrier Air Wing Nine in 1966, Art in VA-56 and myself in VA-113 and in December 1966 we deployed on USS Enterprise to take our turn at carrying the fight to North Vietnam as A-4 Skyhawk tailhookers. On the evening of 14 January 1967 we both launched on missions to Steel Tiger with our respective wingmen to work with forward air controllers or MILKY as assigned… My section was assigned to the radar controller who directed my pair of A-4s with MK-82s to drop on a flak site somewhere near the DMZ. I returned to Enterprise with my wingman. Art never came home…
“Vietnam: Air Losses: (Hobson) There were three fixed wing aircraft lost in Southeast Asia on 14 January 1967… fifty years ago this day…
(1) CAPTAIN C.R. FRY was flying an A-4E of VMA-121 and MAG-12 out of Chu Lai on a mission near Ha Tan, SVN when hit in the wing by ground fire. A subsequent fire in the wing led to a successful ejection and rescue by a Marine helicopter.
(2) and (3) LCDR ARTHUR KASIMIR TYSZKIEWICZ and his unnamed wingman were flying A-4Cs of the VA-56 Champions embarked in USS ENTERPRISE on a night attack mission in Steel Tiger (weather alternate)… Hobson: “The USS Enterprise returned (to Yankee Station) off the coast of Vietnam on 18 December 1967 to commence a second combat cruise. The ship had been conducting operations safely for almost a month before it lost its first aircraft of the cruise. During a night combat mission over Laos the wingman of a section of Skyhawks overran his leader and collided. Both aircraft crashed. One pilot survived…”
It wasn’t Art…
THE REST OF THE STORY… Both pilots safely ejected and were on the ground. Art sustained a serious leg injury on landing in heavy jungle. The valiant helicopter rescue guys were on the scene pronto and a successful dark night pickup of the wingman was made without incident. The attempt to pluck Art out of the triple canopy jungle, however, was unsuccessful. While the rescue jungle penetrator was lowered on target and Art was securely aboard the lifesaving device, the retraction of the sling and Art went badly. The cable parted and Art fell perhaps 100-feet back into the jungle. During the retraction Art was communicating with the recovery helicopter. But there were no further coms after the parting of the cable and the fall back into the jungle. Art was never heard from again.
A search team was put into the area at first light on the 15th and the search was extended for several days without success. Art was Missing in Action. Gone.
Until 1971– when a native Laotian found and reported his discovery of Art’s remains, which were subsequently recovered, identified and returned to the United States for burial. Art was Killed in Action on 14 January 1967.
Art was born in Poland on July 7, 1933 into a royal Polish family. Art was a Prince. However, the Tyszkiewicz family was torn asunder by the Germans in 1939, then the Soviets. Art and his brother Joe and their heroic mother made an epic journey through Asia to South America and eventually to Texas. Art attended St. Edwards University from the new family home in Amarillo. Art was now a man of two countries. He joined the Navy in 1955 to fly and fight. He harbored no love for Communists.
Tonight, this weekend, my thoughts are with Linda and the manly sons she raised for Art. And my great memories of times together with Art in the air, on liberty, at Trader’s, knocking out correspondence courses required for promotion in those days, at Jack Stone’s Barn, and the evenings on Palafox in Pensacola in his blue and white 1957 Chevy convertible, top down, looking for adventure. Brothers… Dear Art…you are remembered…Rest in peace…
To read more about Art please visit these links:
Find a Grave Vietnam Wall Wall of Faces
“Hero’s Family Flown to ‘BIG E’ Sea Burial”
RTR will return to reviewing RT history tomorrow… On 19 January RTR will post a special remembrance of LCDR Don Ashby for Denny Wisely. Humble Host offers this opportunity for any Rolling Thunder era person to so honor a dear friend of the war in the air over North Vietnam. Send me a paragraph or two of your memories and a picture, if possible. Get it to me about 10 days ahead of the date you would like to honor that friend’s memory and it will be posted on RTR on the date you specify…
Lest we forget……… Bear
