Forrestal veterans recall hero's wartime actions

Tyrone Walker
The Post and Courier

Merv Rowland, (from left) Joel May, Sam Kirton, and Dennis Joint were serving aboard the aircraft carrier Forrestal when tragic fire ravaged the ship in July 1967.

Tyrone Walker
The Post and Courier

Flags honor the men who lost their lives in a fire aboard the USS Forrestal in July 1967.

Merv Rowland was the chief engineer aboard the 80,000-ton aircraft carrier Forrestal when a portion of the ship went up in flames off the coast of Vietnam in 1967.

It was his job to direct efforts to put out the fire that started after a rocket misfired, hit the wing of one of the planes, spilled fuel and knocked loose a bomb that landed on the flight deck.

All the other planes on the deck, including one where U.S. Sen. and presidential candidate John McCain sat in the cockpit, were loaded with fuel and ammunition, Rowland said.

After the first explosion, "there was exposed ammunition all over the ship," he said, and the fire quickly spread.

When the fire was finally extinguished, 134 of the 5,000 men on board had lost their lives, he said. But the Forrestal was saved.

Rowland, 90, is one of 350 members of the USS Forrestal Association attending an annual reunion through Sunday at the Sheraton North Charleston.

Joel May, 60, who served in the Navy aboard the Forrestal from 1966 to 1970, like many others at the reunion who were aboard the ship in 1967, said Rowland's clear direction saved the ship. "He's the reason 5,000 of us aren't at the bottom of the Gulf of Tonkin."

Rowland said it was "17- and 18-year-old kids that put the fire out. They walked right into the furnace," he said.

Sam Kirton, 67, said "out there, every sailor is a firefighter."

The reunion is open to all of the men who served aboard the Forrestal from the day it was launched in 1954 to the day it was decommissioned in 1993, said Bob Knight of West Ashley, who was aboard the Forrestal from 1955 to 1957 and organized this year's reunion. The association, he said, has about 3,400 members.

John Corley, who served in the Marines aboard the Forrestal from 1959 to 1961, said he was the association's 40th member. He's come to every reunion since 1992, he said.

"It's the only ship I know of that has this loyalty," he said.

Today, association members will gather at 10 a.m. for a memorial service to honor all who died aboard the aircraft carrier.

Reach Diane Knich at 937-5491 or dknich@postandcourier.com.