Tapp, John Bethel
Navy Lieutenant commander

John Bethel Tapp, age 32, from Mercer County Harrodsburg, Kentucky .

Parents: Gertrude Tapp Gaskin and preceded in death by L. A. Tapp
Spouse: Margaret (Gortney)

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: Wednesday, March 23, 1966
Death details: Lieutenant Commander John Bethel Tapp entered the U.S. Navy from Kentucky and was a member of Attack Squadron 93, embarked aboard the USS Enterprise (CVAN 65). On March 23, 1966, he was the pilot of an A-4C Skyhawk (bureau number 147738, call sign “Raven 302”) on a night armed reconnaissance mission over North Vietnam. As LCDR Tapp returned to the Enterprise, he observed ground fire but reported no trouble with his aircraft. A routine visual check by another pilot flying the same mission also revealed no apparent damage to LCDR Tapp’s aircraft. However, soon after, radar and radio contact was lost with LCDR Tapp’s aircraft, and LCDR Tapp’s Skyhawk was not seen again. Search and rescue forces later located the crash site but could not locate any signs of LCDR Tapp, and he remains unaccounted-for. Today, Lieutenant Commander Tapp is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. His name is also inscribed along with all his fallen comrades on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, DC.

Source: National Archives, Courier Journal (1966), Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency