Class of 1963

Patrick Edward Wynne
"Pat"
d 1966

  Service
United States Air Force		  
Highest Rank
1st Lieutenant		 Years of Service
3		 Combat
Yes
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Biography as of: Oct 29, 2013

If Dean McDermott had a mental image of the soldier-scholars he wanted the Academy to produce, that picture might have looked like Pat Wynne. Smart, creative, an outstanding communicator, follow-on grad school in international relations at Georgetown. The dean likely wished more of us were like Pat.

In high school in Melbourne, FL, he participated in football and track and was state orator champion - a prelude to his 1963 selection as the outstanding cadet in intercollegiate speech competition.

While most of us strived to survive the 4th class system, Pat found time to document its idiosyncrasies in his weekly Dodo column, Smiles from the System. Remember some of these? "Somebody said they're going to start issuing pillows in biology class"; "There WILL be a voluntary spontaneous pep rally at tatoo this evening"; FAMOUS LAST WORDS: "Boy, I'm sure glad academics are here. It ought to ease up now. PEW '63; or his view of receiving lines where ". . . your name starts out Wynne and comes out Lose." Somewhere there's a line about going to the wrestling matches with his blind date in Denver. Pat ate lots of popcorn. She won second place.
Pat's imagination, writing skills, and persistent drive propelled him to Dodo Editor, Editor in Chief of the Talon, and positions on the Polaris and Contrails staff - while many classmates were striving to stay off the D-list.

After grad school, Pat went to pilot training at Williams AFB, AZ. Following combat crew training in the F-4C, he was assigned to Eglin AFB, FL, before a deployment to Ubon RTAFB in mid-1966. Pat and Tom Fryer reached Ubon just as MiG Killer Doug Hardgrave was preparing to head home in July. Doug remembers Pat pretty much slipping into his vacated crew slot with Captain Larry Goldberg. Pat likely was thrilled as Goldberg was one of the first USAF F-4 instructor pilots and shared the MiG Kill with Doug on 30 April.

Pat's roommate, Tom Fryer, remembers 8 August: two flights of F-4s launched from Ubon for North Vietnam. Pat was in the first; Tom in the second. According to Walter J. Boyne's article, Ring of Remembrance, one aircraft couldn't refuel. Thus Pat was in a flight of 3 that dropped to 50 feet above the Gulf of Tonkin to penetrate North Vietnam about 40 miles NE of Haiphong. After attacking trucks near the Chinese border, two of the three F-4s were badly damaged by intense AAA fire. Pat's aircraft had serious control problems. Pat and Larry disappeared. Tom's flight searched for the missing F-4 but was unsuccessful in making contact. Details of what happened to Pat were unknown for more than 40 years.   Some of those details are in the story of Pat's Ring on p. 29.

"A short life lived with Gusto. We will always remember you and your great smile, upbeat personality and drive to be the best you could be. I remember your piano playing, the winters you pulled me up the hill to sled ride and the letters we exchanged. You were so busy but took the time to entertain a little sister. . . . We will never forget you! Love to you, Your brothers and sisters."    Cathy Bessette, Pat's sister

(Some of this information is from Ring of Remembrance by Walter J. Boyne available at http://www.8tfw.com/wynne.html )


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