Hydesville Veteran Awarded Medal by DAR
With Fortuna Mayor Tami Trent before this morning’s DAR awards ceremony ; Al Dunnegan, Senior Chief Petty Officer, USN (Ret.)
Press release:
Hydesville Resident and Ferndale native; US Navy Veteran (Vietnam War), Alvin (Al) Dunegan was awarded the Daughters of the American Revolution Distinguished Citizen Medal and Certificate, [Saturday] morning at a ceremony in Fortuna.
The DAR Distinguished Citizen Medal and Certificate is presented to an individual who exemplifies honor, service, courage, leadership, and patriotism.
This medal is awarded to veterans of the United States Armed Forces, and citizens who have contributed to the defense, security, or freedom of the community, state, or nation in an exceptional manner. The award must be reviewed and approved at the national level by the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution.
He participated in the 1962 Cuban Missile Blockade aboard USS Murray (DD-576), interdicting Soviet Union shipping to inspect for missiles being shipped to Cuba, and causing a Whiskey Class Russian nuclear submarine to surface.
On 29 July 1967, while serving aboard the USS Forrestal (CVA-59) and deployed to Vietnam in the Gulf of Tonkin; during flight ops, a missile on an A-4 aircraft fired and exploded a fuel pod on another aircraft resulting in a fire engulfing the aft end of the flight deck in burning fuel. Pilots abandoned their planes, many jumping over the side, leaving them to burn.
Eventually the bombs started cooking off and exploding and blowing holes in the flight deck resulting in 139 casualties. Of the 86 aircraft aboard only four were flyable; one the fire was extinguished 5 days later.
The late Senator John McCain was one of the pilots onboard the USS Forrestal, who barely escaped with his life, on that fateful day.
Later, he served as Recruit Company Commander (Navy version of a drill instructor) at the U.S. Navy Recruit Training Center, Great Lakes, IL. As Company Commander, he pushed through five 86-man companies achieving Color Company with 2 of 5 recruit companies.
After retiring from the US Navy in 1980, he had an exemplary corporate career.
Al Dunnegan and Shirley Lipa, Secretary of the Eel Valley Chapter of DAR., presenting the award and reading the citation.
In 2013 he returned to his roots in Humboldt County and has continued to serve veterans as Commander of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2207, Aide de Camp to the National VFW Commander, and leader of the Veterans Honor Guard serving Veterans and their families.
He can be seen assisting in maintaining the Fortune Veterans Memorial Building, helping with the monthly veterans community breakfast, and anywhere that he might be needed to serve the local community.
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???Happy Veterans Day! Thank you for your service. Thank you to all the veterans out there.
Thank you for your service, Al Dunnegan.
The USS Forrestal tragedy was well-known in the Seventh Fleet by the time I came along in 1969. Very nearly lost the Carrier. It’s generally accepted that service on a ship is less dangerous and easier living than for troops on the ground. That’s generally true, but once in a while the squids take a big hit, like Pearl Harbor. My father-in-law was on the USS Franklin in WWII when Japanese Kamakazi pilots almost destroyed it. You can stream “USS Franklin, Honor restored” for a fascinating bit of Naval history. There is also actual footage of John McCain popping open the canopy of his jet fighter, tip-toeing out to the nose, and jumping out and over the sea of flaming fuel that was spreading over the deck.
As an aside, Naval History enthusiasts can also find “Report from the Aleutians, 1943” an absolute classic by a young John Huston and brother Walter about American attempts to dislodge Japanese troops from American soil. Of course there is Pearl Harbor footage that has been seen by many.
Al, it was so great to hear about your experiences. Thank you for everything.
I too heard a lot about the USS Forrestal incident when I joined the Navy. Very brave men saved her.
They were lucky it wasn’t worse. Something civilians may not know is that every crew member of a naval vessel, from the newest recruit up to the commanding officer and his admiral, are trained firefighters. Almost a week of boot camp was all firefighting training. You even learn how to put gasoline out with water (you have to mist the water). There is no choice. If you’re on a naval vessel at sea and it catches fire, you put the fire out or you die, there is nowhere to run.