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Local dignitaries to help dedicate A-6 memorial

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, November 9, 2016

Among those representing Oak Harbor and the A-6 community at a dedication Friday will be Mayor Bob Severns and his wife, Rhonda; Capt. Geoffrey Moore, commanding officer for Naval Air Station Whidbey Island; and state Sen. Barbara Bailey and husband Capt. Butch Bailey (U.S. Navy Ret.), who was a career Intruder pilot.
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Among those representing Oak Harbor and the A-6 community at a dedication Friday will be Mayor Bob Severns and his wife, Rhonda; Capt. Geoffrey Moore, commanding officer for Naval Air Station Whidbey Island; and state Sen. Barbara Bailey and husband Capt. Butch Bailey (U.S. Navy Ret.), who was a career Intruder pilot.

Among those representing Oak Harbor and the A-6 community at a dedication Friday will be Mayor Bob Severns and his wife, Rhonda; Capt. Geoffrey Moore, commanding officer for Naval Air Station Whidbey Island; and state Sen. Barbara Bailey and husband Capt. Butch Bailey (U.S. Navy Ret.), who was a career Intruder pilot.
Among those representing Oak Harbor and the A-6 community at a dedication Friday will be Mayor Bob Severns and his wife, Rhonda; Capt. Geoffrey Moore, commanding officer for Naval Air Station Whidbey Island; and state Sen. Barbara Bailey and husband Capt. Butch Bailey (U.S. Navy Ret.), who was a career Intruder pilot.

A ceremony honoring the installation of an A-6 Intruder tribute memorial will take place at the Museum of Flight in Seattle this Friday.

The event begins at 4:30 p.m. on Veterans Day, Friday, Nov. 11, inside the Museum of Flight’s Aviation Pavilion adjacent to the Grumman A-6 Intruder aircraft.

Master of ceremonies will be retired Navy Capt. Larry Yarham, who will present the tribute monument to the museum’s president and chief executive officer, Doug King.

Steve Coonts, an A-6 Vietnam veteran and best-selling author of several novels about the aircraft, including “Flight of the Intruder,” will deliver the principal address.

The Intruder tribute will be a laser etched granite obelisk that will include highlights of the history and capabilities of the aircraft which served over 30 years as the Navy’s premier all-weather attack platform.

West Coast-based Intruder squadrons were stationed at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island 1966-97 and, like the EA-6B Prowler, were an iconic sight over North and Central Whidbey.

The monument stands adjacent to an A-6 aircraft displaying the squadron markings of Whidbey Island-based attack squadron VA-52, bearing the side number 502.

On each side of the canopy appear the names Lt. Roger Lester, pilot, and his bombardier/navigator Lt. Harry Mossman, who were lost on a mission in Vietnam in August 1972.

Together, they flew an aircraft with the call sign Viceroy 502.

Appropriately, Viceroy 502 stands watch alongside the Northwest Intruder Tribute as perpetual monuments to all who built, flew and maintained the A-6 Intruder, and especially to all who made the supreme sacrifice while serving in the A-6 community.

Among those representing Oak Harbor and the A-6 community at the event will be Mayor Bob Severns and his wife, Rhonda; Capt. Geoffrey Moore, commanding officer, Naval Air Station Whidbey Island; and state Sen. Barbara Bailey and husband Capt. Butch Bailey (U.S. Navy Ret.), who was a career Intruder pilot.

The Oak Harbor High School Naval Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps color guard will present the colors, and the national anthem will be performed by Oak Harbor’s Daybreak Trio.

Preceding the ceremony, at 2 p.m., a symposium will be held addressing the combat history of the aircraft.

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