Friend to Meridian POW laid to rest

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – A pair of Navy T-45C Goshawk aircraft from Commander Training Air Wing 6 in Pensacola, Fla., performed a flyover above Barrancas National Cemetery on May 16 as a tribute to fallen Vietnam War-era naval aviator and a former POW, retired Cmdr. Ralph Ellis Gaither Jr. Gaither began naval aviation training more than five decades ago at NAS Pensacola. “We were honored to be part of sending off such a great naval aviator and war hero,” Cmdr. Michael Britt, one of the CTW-6 pilots who performed the flyover, said. Ralph Gaither was born in 1942 in Birmingham, Ala. He enlisted in the Navy in November 1962, and was commissioned through the Naval Aviation Cadet Program and designated a Naval Aviator on October 16, 1964. He went on to fly the F-4B Phantom with the “Jolly Rogers” of Fighter Squadron (VF) 84. He deployed aboard USS Independence (CVN 62) and conducted combat missions in the Gulf of Tonkin in both North and South Vietnam. Shortly into his deployment, his aircraft was shot down over North Vietnam. Gaither endured 2,675 days as a POW before returning to the U.S. as part of Operation Homecoming in February 1973. Gaither, an ensign at the time of being shot down, along with his radar intercept officer were captured a few miles south of the China border. After his arrival home Gaither returned to his previous flight status with the Navy. He continued his naval career until he retired in 1986. (Source: Chief of Naval Air Training 05/17/19) In September 2003, Gaither was guest speaker at NAS Meridian, Miss.’s annual National POW/MIA Recognition Day. Tom Collins, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel from Meridian was at the 2003 POW/MIA Recognition Day ceremony at NASM. Collins and Gaither had known one another since their days as prisoners of war. Gaither, 77, was a resident of Gulf Breeze, Fla. Gaither enlisted in the Navy in September 1962. During boot camp he was asked to consider the Navy Aviation Cadet Program, and since he held a flying license – acquired at age 17 – he soon found himself in flight training in Pensacola. Preflight and cadet training followed with flights in the Beechcraft T-34 Mentor and later in the T-28 at NAS Whiting Field, Fla.