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AW3 James C. Mentink
VS-37 S-3A
BUNO: 160590
Born: December 15, 1955
Died: November 2, 1978
Hometown: California |
Aircraft crashed in the mountains near Cubi Point. Jim is buried at the Golden Gate National Cemetary, Section N, Site 2228.
Shipmates Comments:
STGCM (Ret.) Dennis Avery:
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.
AWCS (Ret.) Calvin Harris:
I had just left VS-37 prior to the deployment. I was a fairly new chief and was put ashore at VS-41. I was the Casualty Control Officer for the survivors, which included my brother-in-law AW3 Jim Mentink. Jim had just married my wife's younger sister prior to the deployment and were living with us. It was pretty rough. Pure pilot error on that one.
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