Templin, Erwin Benard Jr.
Navy Lieutenant commander

Erwin Benard Jr. Templin, age 25, from Harris County Houston, Texas .

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: Saturday, January 22, 1966
Death details: On January 22, 1966, an S-2D Tracker (bureau number 149252) carrying four crew members launched from the USS Hornet (CVS 12) on a surveillance mission over North Vietnam. While returning to the ship and flying over the Gulf of Tonkin, the Tracker’s pilot radioed he would investigate a possible target appearing on the water’s surface and shortly thereafter, the aircraft disappeared from radar in the vicinity of (GC) 48Q YG 481 761. The aircraft was presumed to have fallen out of radar contact because of its flying at a lower altitude while investigating the possible target. Contact with the aircraft was not reestablished, and it was not seen or heard from again. An extensive search was made but failed in locating the missing aircraft or its crew. Lieutenant Junior Grade Erwin Benard “Skip” Templin Jr. entered the U.S. Navy from Texas and was a member of Sea Control Squadron 35, embarked aboard the Hornet. He was the radar intercept officer of this Tracker when it disappeared on January 22, 1966, and was lost with the aircraft. After the incident, the Navy promoted LTJG Templin to the rank of Lieutenant Commander (LCDR). Today, Lieutenant Commander Templin 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, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency