[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 5]
[Senate]
[Page 6695]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    REMEMBERING JOSEPH WILLIAM AUBIN

  Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Madam President, this past Sunday, the Vietnam 
Veterans Memorial Fund, VVMF, held a dedication ceremony on the 
National Mall, commemorating ten courageous men whose names recently 
have been carved on the black granite walls of the Vietnam Veterans 
Memorial.
  One of them--a brave and beloved airman, Joseph William Aubin--hailed 
from Bridgeport, CT. On the morning of May 26, 1966, Chief Warrant 
Officer Aubin, an experienced Chief Aviation Electronic Technician, was 
asked at the last minute to join a mission. He unquestioningly boarded 
the Skywarrior aircraft with his team from NAS Cubi Point in the 
Philippines to explore critical suspicious activity in Vietnam. On the 
way, he and his team encountered damaging weather conditions that 
unexpectedly doomed the engines. In this critical moment, Chief Warrant 
Officer Aubin was instructed to ``bail out'' into the South China Sea. 
Along with three of his team members, he died there.
  Since that day in 1966, Chief Warrant Officer Aubin and the three 
other men who perished during the mission--ATR3 Richard Carl Hunt from 
Guys Mills, PA, LT Walter Allan Linzy from Nashville, AR, and ATR3 
Richard Dwaine Stocker from Jacksonville, AR--have been remembered as 
the ``Lost Back End Crew.'' Chief Warrant Officer Aubin's body was 
never recovered, but he is no less deserving to be memorialized. Now, 
the entire Nation can visit the site of the Vietnam Memorial to honor 
him and his ultimate sacrifice.
  Chief Warrant Officer Aubin will never be forgotten. Names carved 
into the wall are written into our national memory and history for all 
generations to visit emotionally and physically. Newly inscribed names 
reaffirm the message that the Nation recalls all commemorated at this 
memorial with deep gratitude and appreciation.

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