Linebacker II was halted on 29 December 1972. The North Vietnamese agreed to come back to the negotiations in Paris.
Having enjoyed Christmas, Midway left Singapore and celebrated New Years Eve at sea on the way back to the Gulf of Tonkin to continue combat missions into both North and South Vietnam. Missions were restricted above the 20th Parallel – no flights into Route Pac 6, the Red River Valley, Hanoi or Haiphong. Still it was wartime footing and operations off of a carrier are always problematic. Within days of recommencing we were to learn that lesson twice more.
On a clear day mission 6 January 1973, Lt. John Lindahl of the Champs was catapulted off Schoolboy for another combat mission. Barely clearing the bow, something went wrong and he ejected- apparently safely right beside the ship. The SAR helo was on top of him in 45 seconds with a swimmer in the water. John sank before the swimmer could grab his parachute. Flotation gear didn’t work… who knows??? It’s not supposed to happen that way. Learning how to deal with the water begins almost Day 1 in Flight School, so as to make reaction almost second nature. Based on all our survival training multiple times in the pool and in San Diego Bay including being hoisted into a helo, John should have set a record for shortest time from pulling the handle to being back in the ready room telling his story… but he was gone… absurdly gone.
Great high school athlete, Naval Academy graduate, superb husband and father … we lost one of the best and nicest guys on the ship – epitome of “Fly Navy, the BEST Always Have”
… truly a Gentleman’s Gentleman.
We lost a LCDR A-7 replacement pilot the 1st or 2nd line period. I was a solo, so I was going as their 3rd aircraft. He had a cold cat, wentin the water, and the helo had a swimmer in the water within a minute. The swimmer couldn’t rescue him, because he was sinking so fast! When I was in the Reserves at Pt Mugu, I worked in the Aviation Physiology Lab. I learned that the 0/0 seat in the A-7 used a spreader gun to deploy the chute and then spread the canopy. They found that it induced a backward roll and then the chute deploy 90 degrees to the rotation. This movement broke necks during low altitude ejections. I believe they fixed it. A little late for our guys!
Nice piece, Boris. John was a superb aviator and a great golfer too.
KT
“Pogo” was a classmate in my company at USNA. We called him Pogo because he was slow-walking, slow-talking, very deliberative in his words and deeds. But when Pogo talked, we all listened; he had a knack for reducing issues to their core, and we all benefited from his presence.
He is greatly missed.
Klaw
Boris, I concur. Nice piece! John was an excellent tennis player and varsity letter winner in tennis at USNA. Played mostly doubles. As I remember the circumstances of the incident mentioned (I was turning on deck as the Champ spare for that launch), John started a normal climb out, then a shallow descent. No radio call from John prior to ejection. The helo was on him within 25 seconds of him hitting the water. John was struggling in the water and still attached to the parachute. The swimmer jumped in, came up to clear his mask and with swim fins, couldn’t swim down fast enough to grab the parachute as John pulled it down behind him. He was a GREAT ROOMMATE and I still miss him very much.
If you need specifics on his DFC, I’d be happy to give you a description. I was his wingman that night. NOTE that his DFC is missing from the shadow box.
Best,
Doug
Doug, Please send along the info and’ll update. Thanks
Ed, It was John’s accident that led to the green dye incident in the Cubi Pt pool with Max and Pat when I wanted to test the inflation characteristics of our gear. I believe John’s loss was a factor in the Navy’s modification of aviation flotation gear to include automatic water activation. We lost a wonderful squadronmate, husband, father…… It was a sad day. One that I will never forget because I was his Skipper.
V/r, Skipper
Amen, Skipper.
V/R,
Münt
Ditto !!!
I remember the situation so well
Skipper you will remember pulling me out of formation during J Cs burial at sea because I was crying so hard ..sorry
Then being in the Cubi pool testing the equipment at your ( request )!!
Funny sight – Pat a tri-athlete…. And me with 30 days in remedial swimming at Pensacola Mainside trying to pass the basic test and stay in the flight program (that’s a whole NOTHER story)
ANYTHING to help a wingman…and future wingmen
Noone ever carried the weight of leadership better than you Skipper
We would have followed you anywhere…..and I think we did
Despite not being Marines…I think our Squadron Motto should have been …
“…..SEMPER FI….”
Hats off to all
V/R
Max
Hand salute to a fallen warrior.
John was a superb pilot, officer and squadron mate. No one likes to lose anyone, but it’s particularly devasting to lose one to mechanical failure. His memory and relationship will obviously last forever. You guys had a great squadron. hd
Hello,
My name is Melanie J. and I am a student at Westlake High School in Austin, Texas. My English class is reading The Things They Carried, and is now beginning a project memorializing soldiers whose names are on the Vietnam Memorial Wall. We are commemorating lost soldiers and I received Lt. John Carl Lindahl’s name.
Through my research I have found this site. I was wondering if anyone would be willing to share any memories, experiences or photos you have with John that I can include in my memorial to make my tribute more personal.
If you would like to see similar projects to the one I’m working on and where my memorial will eventually be posted, please visit http://www4.eanesisd.net/~vietnam/. They are quite impressive. Also, please feel free to contact my teacher, Michelle Crocker, at mcrocker@eanesisd.net.
Thank you very much for your time,
Melanie J.