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ANTHONY J. PIERSANTI JR
Home Of Record:
PENNSAUKEN
County:
Camden
Status:
Missing In Action
Rank:
LTJG
Branch Of Service:
Navy
Country Of Incident:
NVN
Date of Casualty:
December 15, 1970
Date of Birth:
May 26, 1946
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ANTHONY J PIERSANTI JR
LTJG - O2 - Navy - Reserve
Length of service 6 years
His tour began on Dec 15, 1970
Casualty was on Dec 15, 1970
In , NORTH VIETNAM
NON-HOSTILE, FIXED WING - CREW
AIR LOSS, CRASH AT SEA
Body was not recovered
Panel 06W - Line 123
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Anthony J. Piersanti, Jr .was born on May 26, 1946. His home of record is
Pennsauken, NJ.
He enlisted in the US Navy and attained the rank of Lieutenant Junior Grade
(LTJG/O2).
Piersanti was listed as missing in action when his plane crashed into the
Gulf of Tonkin on December 15, 1970.
Synopsis (from the POW Network) as to the circumstances behind being listed
as MIA:
Piersanti was assigned to Fleet Air Carrier Support Squadron Five Zero. On
December 15, 1970, LTJG Piersanti was the pilot aboard a C-2 aircraft
launched from the USS Ranger about 90 miles northeast of Da Nang, South
Vietnam.
Approximately 10 seconds after takeoff, the aircraft apparently stalled and
crashed into the Gulf of Tonkin. An intensive search was commenced
immediately by USS RANGER and accompanying ships and aircraft. The loss
occurred approximately 80 nautical miles from the nearest point of land.
Only two bodies were ever recovered. Anthony’s body was not recovered and he
is listed as missing in action.
Sources: POW Network and NJVVMF.
LIEUTENANT
JUNIOR GRADE ANTHONY J. PIERSANTI JR.
was born May 26, 1946. His
father was an Army veteran of World War II where he fought in the Battle of
the Bulge. He grew up in Pennsauken, NJ where he and his twin brother Tom
graduated from Pennsauken High School in 1964. While in school both boys
played on the school baseball, football, basketball and wrestling teams.
After high
school Anthony Piersanti attended Drexel Institute in Philadelphia PA on an
ROTC scholarship. He played football and baseball at Drexel, graduating in
1968. Reporting to the United States Navy to fulfill his ROTC commitment he
trained as a naval pilot, and was awarded his wings at the Naval Air Station
in Pensacola FL. Before going overseas he married Margie Milner, a student
nurse. He was sent overseas early in 1970, three months after their wedding.
Lieutenant
Junior Grade Piersanti was sent to Southeast Asia where he was assigned to
Detachment B, Fleet Tactical Support Squadron 50 based on the Japanese
mainland. This unit among other tasks was involved in shuttling personnel
between ships at sea and land bases. His wife joined him in Japan after
graduating from nursing school.
On December
15, 1970 Lietenant Junior Grade Piersanti's plane, a Navy C-2 transport,
crashed into the Gulf of Tonkin, 90 miles northeast of Da Nang, South
Vietnam, approximately 10 seconds
after takeoff from the USS Ranger. An intensive search
was commenced immediately by USS RANGER and accompanying ships and
aircraft. The loss occurred approximately 80 nautical miles from the
nearest point of land.
SYNOPSIS: LT
Meril O. McCoy, Jr. was the pilot of a C2A "Trader" cargo plane launched
from the USS RANGER about 90 miles north-northeast of Da Nang, South Vietnam
on December 15, 1970. He carried a total of six individuals onboard,
including himself, on the flight. They were on a logistics support mission
from the carrier to the Naval Air Station Cubi Point, Republic of the
Philippines.
Approximately
10 seconds after takeoff, the aircraft apparently stalled and crashed into
the Gulf of Tonkin. An intensive search was conducted immediately by the
RANGER and accompanying ships and aircraft. As a result, the remains of two
of the personnel on board the aircraft were recovered. Still missing were
the pilot, LT Meril O. McCoy, Jr.; the co-pilot, LTJG Anthony J. Piersanti
Jr.; crewman Petty Officer Clyde C. Owen; and Master Chief Petty Officer
Carroll J. Deuso, a passenger. Deuso was a boiler technician assigned to
Mobile Support Unit Detachment, BRAVO. The C2, sometimes called "Greyhound"
frequently carried passengers from multiple units on their way to and from
duty assignments.
The aircraft
and crew were not necessarily assigned to any of the points of embarkation
or disembarkation. Thus, it cannot be said that this C2 had any relation to
the USS RANGER other than loading or unloading passengers onboard that
carrier.
(NOTE: There
is some confusion in the U.S. Navy version of this incident in that it
states that the aircraft carried "a crew of four" and that there were "six
passengers," leading one to guess that there were 10 souls on board the
aircraft. However, as only four Americans are missing on this date, and the
U.S. Navy states that two remains were recovered after the crash, it can
only be assumed that the Navy account was hastily written and that there
were a total of six personnel onboard the aircraft -- two who were
recovered, and four who were not.)
During the
period of July-September 1973, an over water/at sea casualty resolution
operation was conducted to determine the feasibility of performing recovery
operations on such cases as the loss of the C2 on December 15, 1970. Because
this operation ended with no results whatsoever, it was determined that the
men lost at sea could not be recovered. Deuso, Piersanti, McCoy and Owen
were declared Deceased/Body Not Recovered. The incident is listed as
non-battle related.
Anthony
Piersanti Jr. was 24 years old at the time of his death. Piersanti Drive in
Pennsauken, which runs north from Union Avenue between Park Avenue and Route
130 Northm was named in his memory.
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Camden
Courier-Post - March 11, 2007 |
Moorestown woman
knew the price of war too well
By JUDITH W. WINNE
Courier-Post Staff
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On the night 36 years ago that Lillian
T. Piersanti learned something terrible had happened to her son,
Anthony, she was already awake.
Anthony J. Piersanti Jr., a
24-year-old naval pilot, was missing in action in Vietnam.
His plane had gone down in the Gulf of
Tonkin. It was a loss Piersanti survived but would, of course,
never quite recover from.
"What she had in her was a hole in her
heart because his body was never found," said Judith L. Lehner of
Palmyra, Piersanti's daughter. "That tormented her."
Piersanti, who lived in Moorestown,
died on Valentine's Day. Renal failure, brought on by advanced
dementia, killed her. She was 84, the widow of Anthony Sr., the
mother of Lehner, Thomas C. Sr. of Moorestown and the late Anthony
Jr.
With her son's wartime disappearance,
Piersanti joined a sorority any mother would give her right arm
not to be part of. She became an American Gold Star Mother, a
group for moms who've lost children in the service of their
country |
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Piersanti knew much about the price of
war. She was also the widow of a military hero.
After the United States entered World
War II, her high school sweetheart, her 21-year-old husband and
the father of their baby daughter, was drafted. He fought at the
Battle of the Bulge; he was on Omaha Beach. Anthony Piersanti Sr.
died in 1983, his body weakened from years of medication required
by wounds incurred decades ago in battle, said his surviving son,
Thomas Piersanti. |
Lillian T. Piersanti
poses with her sons, twins Tony (left) and Thomas, in June 1964 on
their way to boot camp in Lakehurst. After Tony went missing, she
became an American Gold Star Mother. |
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Thomas Piersanti recalled his mother
as a no-nonsense lady with a strong work ethic.
"She expected a lot from her kids," he
said. "She expected a lot from herself."
Her surviving son remembered sitting
on the family stoop in Camden on Friday nights -- his dad, sister,
and twin brother, Tony, the eldest son by 10 minutes. They snacked
on hot baked potatoes with butter and salt as they waited for
Piersanti to return from her shift at RCA.
"She was a career woman," said Lehner,
65. "She worked all her life."
Piersanti loved to fish in Ocean
County and follow the Phillies. At home, her house was spotless,
her seafood lasagna mouthwatering. She devoted herself to family,
particularly after Anthony was lost.
"She gave all her love to my brother
and I and her grandchildren," Lehner said.
Thomas Piersanti, 60, said he believes
his mother continued to harbor some doubt that his brother,
married just a year when his plane went down, was truly dead.
He noted after Tony was gone, his
mother took comfort in friends and family and faith in the sweet
hereafter.
"She believes she'll see him again,"
he said. |
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MESSAGES LEFT ON THEWALL-USA
** Note that some of these
messages are from years ago and their contact information may not be good
anymore **
Frank Duffy
duffarelli@aol.com
Both played in Pennsauken's Little League & Babe Ruth League
Tony: 29 years after you died, apparently on your first combat mission as a
Navy aviator, I found your listing on the Wall. I have strong memories of
you & your twin brother Tommy as fearsome baseball players, both in Little
League & Babe Ruth League. I recall once when my Babe Ruth League team
(Pennsauken Phillies) played yours & I was playing left field. You came to
bat with men on base & two outs. Steve Budd (our shortstop) knew your
batting prowess well, so he kept telling me to back up in left field to the
point where I was only a few strides from the fence. You connected on a
low-inside pitch & knocked it high & deep. I backed up the few steps to the
fence, saw it was gonna be over my head, put up both hands & jumped as I
banged into fence & didn't yet know whether I'd caught it or it had exited
the park. Brought my glove to eye level & there was the ball. Steve Budd
began immediately busting your balls, as pals do. I got a heroe's welcome as
I returned to our bench, and recall after the game Steve telling you,
"Here's the dude who robbed you of a homerun, Tony!" You smiled and said,
"Nice catch." And you've been dead almost 30 years. .apparently lost-at-see
when flying your first combat mission. Your body not recovered your family
deprived of a gravesite where they can visit & tell you how very-very much
you're loved & missed. I sit in Hawaii early this sunny May morning (1999)
typing this message to a guy who was a better ballplayer than I could ever
hope to be. Even though you had many others, I wish I hadn't caught your
homerun ball. .We both know it was a lucky catch on my part, although you
were too decent a guy to say so at the time. I hope your twin, Tommy
Piersanti reads this someday, to learn that he & his beloved brother,
Anthony, are much respected. Much loved. Much honored. Much missed. Frank
Duffy
Saturday, May 22, 1999
Frank Duffy
duffy@hawaii.rr.com
Played in same baseball leagues
P.O. Box 25752
Honolulu, HI 96825-0752 USA
This is an update of my prior posting (May 1999) re Tony Piersanti. My email
addy has changed since then. Want to update it as via prior one I received
some very-very touching email from relatives of Tony, after they read my
initial post. My current email addy: duffy@hawaii.rr.com Don't believe I
mentioned in that initial posting that I also served in Nam (Oct. 66~June
69), at Danang and ChuLai airbases while with the USMC. Hence, I know of
Tony's sacrifice all the more. Have started and maintain a website where
other former Marines (all generations) can post their memoirs, anecdotes
(which I edit and illustrate for them). Nothing fancy, but its addy: http://marinememoir.homestead.com/Index.html
Friday, October 11, 2002
If you would like
to add a story, comment, or contact, please email
CCVietnamKIA@gmail.com
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