Please meet LT Patrick K. Connor, who is forever 25 years old. He was a pilot of the Grumman A6 Intruder, which is a two-man, all weather, low-altitude,
carrier based attack plane, with versions adapted as aerial tanker and
electronic warfare platform.
The A6A primarily flies close air support, all weather and night attacks on enemy troop concentrations, and night interdiction missions. Its advanced navigation and attack system allows small precision targets, such as bridges, barracks and fuel depots to be located and attacked in all weather conditions, day or night. Their crews are among the most talented and most courageous to serve the United States.
LCDR Barry T. Cooke and LTJG Patrick Connor were Intruder pilots assigned
to Attack Squadron 36 ("Roadrunners") onboard the USS ROOSEVELT in the
Persian Gulf. The Squadron's home base was at Oceana Naval Station, Norfolk,
Virginia.
On February 2, 1991, the Intruder on which Cooke was the pilot and Connor
the co-pilot, was shot down off the coast of Kuwait during a strike mission
against Iraqi warships. Cooke and Connor were declared Missing in Action.
Search and rescue efforts were conducted for five days and then suspended,
without having found the missing airmen. On Easter Sunday of that year, the Navy recovered the body of LT. Patrick Kelly Connor from the waters of the Persian Gulf and buried him at Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C.
Patrick, or Pat as his friends called him, was described as a smart, kind, friendly, typical Midwesterner, born and raised in Columbia, Missouri. He was in the ROTC program and then on active duty in the Navy as a navigator for an A-6 Intruder.
Please read the article written by his friend, Peter Scavone. He poignantly describes Pat's patriotism and dedication to our country, and he says, "Pat gave his life up his life to be part of the solution. I sure do miss him."