LCDR George William Kelly
Lieut Randy A Mikal
Lieut William D Blanton
"AW3 Jim Mentink, had just gotten married prior to departing San Diego with VS-37 on their first S-3A cruise and his first cruise in the navy. Jim was very excited to be in the squadron. He was extremely motivated and wanted to be a good SENSO. He was eager to learn and was always asking questions. He was well liked by all in the squadron as were his crew mates. Their loss was a devastating blow to us all. The USS Constellation was in Subic for an extended port call and Jim's crew was scheduled for an early afternoon low level navigation flight around the local area. They departed Cubi Pt to the west in a climbing turn to the left. Entering the overcast they must have gotten disoriented and impacted the mountain to the north of Subic Bay".
STGCM (Ret.) Dennis Avery
LCDR George William Kelly
Lieut Randy A Mikal
Lieut William D Blanton
"AW3 Jim Mentink, had just gotten married prior to departing San Diego with VS-37 on their first S-3A cruise and his first cruise in the navy. Jim was very excited to be in the squadron. He was extremely motivated and wanted to be a good SENSO. He was eager to learn and was always asking questions. He was well liked by all in the squadron as were his crew mates. Their loss was a devastating blow to us all. The USS Constellation was in Subic for an extended port call and Jim's crew was scheduled for an early afternoon low level navigation flight around the local area. They departed Cubi Pt to the west in a climbing turn to the left. Entering the overcast they must have gotten disoriented and impacted the mountain to the north of Subic Bay".
STGCM (Ret.) Dennis Avery
Inscription
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JAMES C
MENTINK JR
AW3
US NAVY
DEC 15 1955
NOV 2 1978
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