Leaver, John Murray Jr. Navy commander

John Murray Leaver Jr. from Arlington, Massachusetts, Middlesex county.

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: Monday, May 8, 1972
Death details:  On May 8, 1972, an SH-3G Sea King (bureau number 149699, call sign “Mustang Angel 5”) carrying eight total for crew and passengers, was attempting a night landing when it hit the fantail of the cruiser USS Providence (CLG 6). The Sea King crashed in to the Gulf of Tonkin, and an immediate search and rescue effort was launched. Five personnel were recovered, and the body of one of the passengers, the commander of Cruiser/Destroyer Flotilla 11, was also recovered. The bodies of two other passengers were not located.

Commander John Murray Leaver Jr., who joined the U.S. Navy from Massachusetts, served aboard the Providence as the operations officer for the Rear Admiral commanding Cruiser/Destroyer Flotilla 11. He was a passenger aboard the helicopter when it crashed and he did not survive, but his remains were not recovered. Today, Commander Leaver is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency