AVORE, MALCOLM ARTHUR "ART"

Name: Malcolm Arthur "Art" Avore
Rank/Branch: O3/US Navy
Unit: Attack Squadron 163
Date of Birth: 25 August 1938
Home City of Record: Hallwell ME
Date of Loss: 18 July 1965
Country of Loss: South Vietnam/Over Water
Loss Coordinates: 091959N 1085057E (BL638323)
Status (in 1973): Killed/Body Not Recovered
Category: 5
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: A4E
Refno: 0110
Other Personnel in Incident: (none missing)

Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 15 June 1990 from one or more of
the following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence
with POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews. Updated by the P.O.w.
NETORK.

REMARKS: SANK AFT CATAPULT CVA 34 - J

SYNOPSIS: The USS ORISKANY was a World War II-era carrier on duty in Vietnam
as early as 1964, when the first clash between U.S. and North Vietnamese
forces occurred in the Gulf of Tonkin. The ORISKANY at one time carried the
RF8A (number 144608) flown by Maj. John H. Glenn, the famous Marine
astronaut (and later Senator) flew in his 1957 transcontinental flight. In
October, 1966 the ORISKANY endured a tragic fire which killed 44 men
onboard, but was soon back on station. In 1972, the ORISKANY had an at-sea
accident which resulted in the loss of one of its aircraft elevators, and
later lost a screw that put the carrier into drydock in Yokosuka, Japan for
major repairs, thus delaying its involvement until the late months of the
war.

On the ORISKANY's 1965 tour, she started off at Dixie Station conducting
training operations. While the carrier was offshore, an explosion occurred
at an Air Force base, calling aircraft from the ORISKANY into a greater, if
temporary, role in the south, flying tactical missions the Air Force
normally would have flown. Attack Squadron 164 onboard the ORISKANY flew
seven days a week, but with nobody shooting at them.

There were other hazards inherent to carrier aviation that would claim the
life of one of the Saints of VA 164 on that tour of duty. LT Malcolm A.
"Art" Avore was preparing to launch from the ORISKANY on an operational
mission when he failed to gain airspeed after the catapult launch and
ditched in the South China Sea off the coast of South Vietnam.

Despite efforts to recover LT Avore, his aircraft sank and he went down with
the plane. Because his remains were never found, he is listed among the
Americans missing in Southeast Asia.

For Art Avore, death is a certainty. For hundreds of others, however, simple
answers are not possible. Adding to the torment of nearly 10,000 reports
relating to Americans missing in Southeast Asia is the certain knowledge
that some Americans who were known to be prisoners of war were not released
at the end of the war. Others were suspected to be prisoners, and still
others were in radio contact with would-be rescuers when last seen alive.
Many were known to have survived their loss incidents, only to disappear
without a trace.

The problem of Americans still missing torments not only the families of
those who are missing, but the men who fought by their sides, and those in
the general public who realize the full implication of leaving men
unaccounted for at the end of a war.

Tragically, many authorities believe there are hundreds of Americans still
alive in captivity in Southeast Asia today. What must they be thinking of
us? What will our next generation say if called to fight if we are unable to
bring these men home from Southeast Asia?

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