Thanks for the link. I just found my father's info:
ROBERT FRANCIS RONCA
ROBERT RONCA was born on October 21, 1923 in Norristown, Pennsylvania. In the Air Force, he attained the rank of MAJ (O4).
On February 19, 1965 at the age of 41, ROBERT RONCA gave his life in the service of our country in Laos, Lz Province.
You can find ROBERT RONCA honored on the Vietnam Memorial Wall on Panel 1E, Row 93.
He was one of the finest fighter pilots ever. As squadron commander, he was not one to ever leave his command. Also, he was a true pilot, and would never consider ejecting. In his own words, if the plane could be landed, he was going to land it. And through 3 wars and several years of a test pilot, he belly landed many airplanes. Anyway, after taking several serious hits, he refused to abandon his mission, and continued on. The transcripts of the last moments show several other pilots telling him that he should return to base. His last recorded words were "no sweat" (His response to another pilot's remark about the smoke coming from my dad's plane). That same day, another man from his squadron was also shot down and spent the rest of the war as a POW. His name was James Lockhart. While my dad was awarded many medals as a result of that day, he was denied the Medal of Honor, which he certainly earned. Seems Uncle Sam was too busy denying that we were actually fighting in Laos at the time. |
