Tromp, William Leslie
Navy Lieutenant commander
William Leslie Tromp, age 24, from Allegan County Fennville, Michigan .
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Sunday, April 17, 1966
Death details: Lieutenant Junior Grade (LTJG) William Leslie Tromp, who joined the U.S. Navy from Michigan, was a member of Attack Squadron 115. On April 17, 1966, he piloted a single-seat A-1H Skyraider (bureau number 135398, call sign “Arab 511”) that launched from the USS Kitty Hawk (CVA 63) as the second of two aircraft on a night coastal armed reconnaissance mission over enemy targets in North Vietnam. After delivering their ordnance to the target, located at the mouth of a river southeast of Ha Tinh, the flight leader received a warning that there had been a surface-to-air missile (SAM) launch in the area. The flight leader then radioed LTJG Tromp to advise him to lose altitude and turn on his lights, and LTJG Tromp responded but his transmission was cut short. He made no further contact and was not seen again, and searches of the area found no sign of LTJG Tromp or his aircraft. Subsequent to the incident, and while carried in the status of missing in action, the U.S. Navy promoted LTJG Tromp to the rank of Lieutenant Commander (LCDR). Today, LCDR Tromp is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Source: National Archives, Kalamazoo Gazette (1966), Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency