A LIVING MEMORIAL FOR

LIEUTENANT JUNIOR GRADE NORMAN LEE BUNDY

UNITED STATES NAVY

INFORMATION FROM THE WALL

LTJG - O2 - Navy - Regular
25 year old Single, Caucasian, Male
Born on Jan 26, 1941
From MIAMI, FLORIDA
His tour of duty began on Sep 06, 1966
Casualty was on Sep 06, 1966
NORTH VIETNAM
NON-HOSTILE, FIXED WING - PILOT
AIR LOSS, CRASH AT SEA
Body was not recovered
Religion
PROTESTANT

Panel 10E - - Line 72

BUNDY, NORMAN LEE
 
Name: Norman Lee Bundy
Rank/Branch: O2/US Navy
Unit:
Date of Birth: 26 January 1941
Home City of Record: Miami FL
Date of Loss: 06 September 1966
Country of Loss: North Vietnam/Over Water
Loss Coordinates: 194500N 1060559E (XG152840)

Status (in 1973): Killed/Body Not Recovered
Category: 5
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: RF8G

Refno: 0449
Other Personnel in Incident: (none missing)
 
Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 15 April 1990 from one or more of
the following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence
with POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews. Updated by the P.O.W.
NETWORK 1998.
 
REMARKS:
Norman Bundy: Norm was a close friend and fraternity brother at Auburn University. We both lived in South Florida and, on Spring breaks and holidays, we drove home and back together. We both attended Auburn on NROTC scholarships. Norm was a intellectually bright and always had positive, cheery outlook on life. He had a gread deal of common sense and had the unique capacity of viewing situations with clarity. As young college undergrads go, this was a rare gift. He had a strong moral upbringing which he did not abandon when on his own in college. He was very popular among his classmates. Strikingly handsome, he could have played the coed field but instead, dated only one gal for most of his time at Auburn. I don't think they got married upon graduation. Norm had a passion for flying and graduated at the top of his Navy flight school class in Pensacola. As this website biography states, he flew the "stovepipe", a notoriously difficult plane to fly. I had heard an unconfirmed report that he went into the sea aft of his ship on a landing approach. If he did, I doubt it was pilot error. Norm was a careful, thoughtful person who, I am certain, flew in the same manner. When I and those who knew Norm learned of the tragedy, we were deeply saddened. At the time, I was on a destroyer in the Pacific. Vietnam was a different war for the different services...even different depending on what you did in a particular service. Naval Aviators were front line combatants in the war. They flew missions taking the war to the enemy and risked it all in doing so. The enemy took the war to them also in the form of missiles, AAA, and even small arms fire. On destroyers, we took the war to the enemy but received little opposition. Even when we operated off North Vietnam on Seadragon Ops, we seldom received enemy shore fire in response to our shore bombardment. When we performed plane guard duties with a carrier, the only enemy was time...the time it took to get to a downed pilot to rescue him. I wish I had been able to help Norm. This is the first time I've ever put my thoughts and recollections of Norm on paper. Even after 46 years almost to the day Norm died, tears swell at the loss of such a good man. I am proud to have known Norm, even if ever-so-briefly on the timeline of man. He was truly one of the "best and brightest". Phil Pauze, Captain, USNR (Retired) 
 
Phil Pauze (24.242.216.202) <philpauze@houston.rr.com>




Houston, , TX USA - Saturday, August 24, 2002 at 08:43:58 (MDT)
 
SYNOPSIS: The Vought F8 "Crusader" saw action early in U.S. involvement in
Southeast Asia. Its fighter models participated both in the first Gulf of
Tonkin reprisal in August 1964 and in the myriad attacks against North
Vietnam during Operation Rolling Thunder. The Crusader was used exclusively
by the Navy and Marine air wings (although there is one U.S. Air Force pilot
reported shot down on an F8) and represented half or more of the carrier
fighters in the Gulf of Tonkin during the first four years of the war. The
aircraft was credited with nearly 53% of MiG kills in Vietnam.
 
The most frequently used fighter versions of the Crusader in Vietnam were
the C, D, and E models although the H and J were also used. The Charlie
carried only Sidewinders on fuselage racks, and were assigned such missions
as CAP (Combat Air Patrol), flying at higher altitudes. The Echo model had a
heavier reinforced wing able to carry extra Sidewinders or bombs, and were
used to attack ground targets, giving it increased vulnerability. The Echo
version launched with less fuel, to accommodate the larger bomb store, and
frequently arrived back at ship low on fuel. The RF-A models were equipped
for photo reconnaissance. The RF-G were also photographic versions, but with
additional cameras and navigational equipment.
 
The combat attrition rate of the Crusader was comparable to similar
fighters. Between 1964 to 1972, eighty-three Crusaders were either lost or
destroyed by enemy fire. Another 109 required major rebuilding. 145 Crusader
pilots were recovered; 57 were not. Twenty of these pilots were captured and
released. The other 43 remained missing at the end of the war. In addition,
there were 16 pilots who went down on photographic versions of the aircraft.
Of these 16, seven were captured (six were released, one died in captivity).
 
Lt.JG Norman L. Bundy was the pilot of an RF8A conducting a flight over the
Gulf of Tonkin on September 6, 1966. Bundy's aircraft crashed about 20 miles
east of the city of Thanh Hoa Province, North Vietnam. Because of the
location, it is believed that Bundy was either traveling to or egressing
from a combat mission, although his loss is classified as non-combat. It was
felt that there was little or no hope that he survived, and Bundy was
declared Killed/Body Not Recovered.
 
Bundy is listed among the missing because his remains were never located to
return home. He is among over 2300 still prisoner, missing, or otherwise
unaccounted for from the Vietnam War.
 
Since the war ended, nearly 10,000 reports relating to Americans missing,
prisoner or unaccounted for in Southeast Asia have been received by the U.S.
Government. Many authorities who have examined this largely classified
information are convinced that hundreds of Americans are still held captive
today. Fighter pilots in Vietnam were called upon to fly in many dangerous
circumstances, and were prepared to be wounded, killed, or captured. It
probably never occurred to them that some of them could be abandoned by the
country they proudly served.