USS Oriskany Vietnam war skipper Capt. John Iarrobino

[Bob Hudson]

I got a chance to be buy items from the estate of this Naval officer a few days in advance of the public sale. My only regret is that I did not have more money because I had to leave behind some interesting things including a mounted tailhook presented to him.

 

Capt. John Iarrobino was skipper of the USS Oriskany from March 1966 to March 1967. His brother Charles commanded the Oriskany in 1962. Both became Naval aviators in WWII.

 

John passed away in 2000, and his wife passed away this past summer. Some of his memorabilia, including medals and uniforms were given a museum several years ago.

 

Here is what I acquired today:

 

 

 

[Bob Hudson]

There a couple of very intriguing items including a little momento made from Oriskany parts by Capt Iarrobino himself, and what appear to be the signs from the Captain's cabins on the Oriskany.

 

 

[Bob Hudson]

This is a guestbook and appears to be from the change of command ceremony when he took command of the Oriskany. Notice some of the names.

 

 

[Bob Hudson]

This piece, in the shape of the carrier, was presented by the wardroom officers. I don't know if the wood came from the ship or not.

 

 

 

This plaque was given to him when he left the O in 1967:

 

 

And this was made for him by a couple of enlisted men:

 

 

 

[Bob Hudson]

These medals were mounted but never used: they are still taped to the cardboard.

 

 

 

 

 

There are a bunch of bullion wings, some never used, some obviously removed from uniforms:

 

 

[Bob Hudson]

I picked up just two patches, and the one with the CD I haven't a clue about , but it looked interesting.

 

 

 

There were two berets (I bought one) and a brimmed hat all made in Vietnam. Were either of these used by US forces in Vietnam?

 

Here's the label from beret:

 

 

 

[Mr-X]

What an awesome grouping for a collector to have.

The items are all fantastic.

 

Its a shame you couldn't get the tail hook plaque.

[Bob Hudson]

Its a shame you couldn't get the tail hook plaque.

 

Yeah, at almost $500 it was more than I had. There were also tons of signed photos of top Navy brass, signed to him when he retired, numerous plaques including one from South Vietnamese premier Nguyen Cao Ky - but that named plaque with the tailhook hook point: that was tough to leave behind.

[Bob Hudson]

I realized that the guestbook covers his entire tour of duty as CO of the Oriskany. And did anyone besides ADMIN catch the misspelling on the name tag?

[KASTAUFFER]

Great Group Bob!

 

Kurt

[Teamski]

A very nice grouping indeed! It's great that somebody like you got to preserve the grouping!

 

-Ski

[Bob Hudson]

I mentioned above the fire on the Oriskany.

 

There is video at http://glewis.us/ofire.htm and it has Capt. Iarrobino comments.

 

Here's a synopsis of what happened (from: http://www.baconlinks.com/MyOriskanyTour/ORetires.html )

 

 

One of the memories most of the pilots shared is the memory of a 1966 fire that killed 44 crew members.

 

The fire started in a flare locker and heavily damaged the ship, which was returning from its first cruise [off the coast of] Vietnam.

 

One former commanding officer, retired Capt. John Iarrobino, who was in command at the time of the fire, chose yesterday to clear the record on the blaze and to remove the stigma it has placed on the Oriskany and the crew.

 

Iarrobino said the Navy Board of Investigation, in its haste to find a cause for the fire, prematurely blamed it on two crew members who were later court-martialed for mishandling the flares and starting the fire. Several other crew members and officers, Iarrobino said, received letters of reprimand.

 

Iarrobino chastised the Navy for its haste and for not doing a thorough investigation. He said the board should have acted "without the desire to serve someone's head on a silver platter."

 

He said an investigation of the flares' manufacturer later revealed the true cause of the fire was a defect in one of the flares that caused it to trigger the blaze.

 

All court-martials were repealed and letters of reprimand rescinded, he said.

 

 

One of the men killed in the fire had a standing request for burial at sea:

 

 

If you watch the video, it starts with the narrator (Charlton Heston) maikng reference to "McNamara's visit." That was Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, and he visited the Oriskany amidst concerns about what senior military leaders said was happening in Vietnam and what was actually happening.

 

The greatest example of this divide occurred in October 1966 when Secretary

McNamara and a party of high ranking personnel visited the Oriskany as part of a tour of

Southeast Asia. One of the first questions McNamara asked Captain Iarrobino, the

Oriskany’s Commanding Officer, concerned the number of sorties the Oriskany’s pilots

flew per day. When Iarrobino answered that his pilots were flying two missions a day,

Secretary McNamara immediately became critical, wanting to know why pilots were not

averaging only one and one-half sorties a day as his guidelines stated. Iarrobino’s

response that there were too few pilots for too many missions did not please the

Secretary. Iarrobino could have also told McNamara about the severe shortage of sailors

affecting operations aboard the Oriskany, but chose not to press the situation as Secretary

McNamara was already obviously agitated by the apparent disconnect.28

 

That is from:

THE EFFECTS OF LEADERSHIP ON CARRIER AIR WING SIXTEEN’S LOSS

RATES DURING OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER, 1965-1968

A thesis presented to the Faculty of the U.S. Army

Command and General Staff College in partial

fulfillment of the requirements for the

degree

MASTER OF MILITARY ART AND SCIENCE

Military History

by

PETER FEY, LCDR, USN

 

 

I must say that as a carrier skipper who faced an angry SecDef and not too long after that an angry fire, Capt. Iarrobino must have been an extraordinary sailor. Either of those events, especially the fire, would have easily ended the career of a Navy Captain. Carrier skippers, especially, are usually relieved of duty and quietly shown the door for accidents no where near the scope of the Oriskany fire. And certainly some senior brass could not have been too happy with his candor in answering McNamara. As it was, he retired from active duty six years later in 1972.

 

According to his obituary, he received four Distinguished Flying Crosses in his32-year naval career, also a Legion of Merit, five Air Medals and a Presidential Unit Citation.

[Bob Hudson]

That McNamara visit made me think of something, so I went back to the Captain's guestbook and sure enough found this list of VIP visitors' signatures from Oct. 1, 1966:

 

 

The fire happened soon after that and there are no more visitors signatures until about February 1967.

 

The very last person to sign the guestbook was Billy Holder, who relieved Capt. Iarrobino as CO of the Oriskany:

 

[navydoc]

The link above to the video of the Oriskany fire and interview with Capt. Iarrabino is mine and I wanted to introduce myself. I was a Dental Technician stationed aboard the USS Oriskany during the 1966 cruise and was there during the fire.

 

Since you have linked to my site for the video, please take the time to browse the rest of my site. I have articles regarding the fire from Life Magazine, All Hands and Time. I have several videos besides the one mentioned here including the complete program the fire video was edited from. Oh, the announcer was voice over talent Don LaFontaine, who recently passed away, not Charlton Heston.

 

I also have many artifacts from the USS Oriskany that have been donated to me that I have for viewing for anyone interested in the ship and her history. I also have the complete collection of USS Oriskany Cruise Books that I have available on CD's.

 

It would be great if I could offer for viewing Capt. Iarrobino's Guest Book at my site too. If you would be willing to scan the book and send the images to me, I would be most grateful.

 

http://glewis.us/Oriskany.htm

 

Gene Lewis

USN - DT3

USS Oriskany, 1966 - 1967

[Bob Hudson]

The link above to the video of the Oriskany fire and interview with Capt. Iarrabino is mine and I wanted to introduce myself. I was a Dental Technician stationed aboard the USS Oriskany during the 1966 cruise and was there during the fire.

 

Since you have linked to my site for the video, please take the time to browse the rest of my site. I have articles regarding the fire from Life Magazine, All Hands and Time. I have several videos besides the one mentioned here including the complete program the fire video was edited from. Oh, the announcer was voice over talent Don LaFontaine, who recently passed away, not Charlton Heston.

 

I also have many artifacts from the USS Oriskany that have been donated to me that I have for viewing for anyone interested in the ship and her history. I also have the complete collection of USS Oriskany Cruise Books that I have available on CD's.

 

It would be great if I could offer for viewing Capt. Iarrobino's Guest Book at my site too. If you would be willing to scan the book and send the images to me, I would be most grateful.

 

http://glewis.us/Oriskany.htm

 

Gene Lewis

USN - DT3

USS Oriskany, 1966 - 1967

 

Thanks for the post Doc and for putting that interview online. I'll have to see if that guestbook will fit on my scanner. It was a pretty incredible thing to come across.

[navydoc]

Admin,

 

That would be great. You can even scan the page(s) as more than one image and I can 'stitch' them together. I recommend a resolution of 150 dpi as 300 sometimes is too much resolution and shows the paper texture too much.

 

If you would email me at admin(at)glewis(dot)us, I can give you info on the best way to send the images to me.

 

I hope you all enjoy the rest of my website too.

 

Thanks,

 

Doc

[Bob Hudson]

Most of what is shown here is being for sale as a grouping: http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/ind...showtopic=31950

[Bob Hudson]

I was able to acquire more items including his retirement and Legion of Merit certificates, ribbons he wore, plaques and a large oil painting of him.

 

 

 

There was also a six and a half pound cast brass Navy pilots wing and ribbon racks he made up but never used:

 

[navydoc]

Very nice addition to what you already have.

 

I...errr...cleaned up the portrait a bit:

 

 

Doc

[Bob Hudson]

Pleased to report that most of what you see here will be going to the Oriskany Museum, Oriskany New York thanks in large part to the Oriskany Reunion Association.

[navydoc]

That's great news. I'm glad to hear the ORA was able to work everything out with you to make these items available at the USS Oriskany Museum.

 

Thanks for helping make this possible.

 

Doc