DOSS, DALE WALTER
Name: Dale Walter Doss
Rank/Branch: O4/US Navy
Unit: Attack Squadron 35, USS ENTERPRISE (CVA 65)
Date of Birth: 04 January 1936 (Birmingham AL)
Home City of Record: Virginia Beach VA
Date of Loss: 17 March 1968
Country of Loss: North Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 212000N 1055000E (WJ864590)
Status (in 1973): Released POW
Category:
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: A6A
Missions: 54
Other Personnel in Incident: Edwin A. Shuman (released POW)
Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 30 April 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.
NETWORK.
REMARKS: 730314 RELSD BY DRV
SYNOPSIS: When nuclear powered USS ENTERPRISE arrived on Yankee Station on
December 2, 1965, she was the largest warship ever built. She brought with her
not only an imposing physical presence, but also an impressive component of
warplanes and the newest technology. By the end of her first week of combat
operations, the ENTERPRISE had set a record of 165 combat sorties in a single
day, surpassing the KITTY HAWK's 131. By the end of her first combat cruise, her
air wing had flown over 13,000 combat sorties. The record had not been achieved
without cost.
When the ENTERPRISE was again on station in the spring of 1968, two of its
pilots were LCDR Edwin A. Shuman III and LCDR Dale W. Doss, an A6 "Intruder"
team. The Intruder pilots were known to have, in the words of Vice Admiral
William F. Bringle, Commander Seventh Fleet, "an abundance of talent, courage
and aggressive leadership", and were sent on some of the most difficult missions
of the war.
On March 17, 1968, Shuman was the pilot and Doss his Bombardier/Navigator (BN)
when they launched in their A6A Intruder on a night, low-level strike into North
Vietnam. A radio transmission was heard indicating that they were proceeding to
execute their assigned mission. They had requested that other aircraft keep
radio transmission to a minimum. At this time they should have been over land.
Shortly, another aircraft assigned to support the mission in an anti-missile
role attempted to establish radio contact since no "bombs away" call was heard,
and receiving no answer, the aircraft supporting the mission proceeded to the
pre-briefed lost-communications rendezvous point. Contact with Doss and Shuman
was never regained.
Radio Hanoi announced the capture of LCDRs Shuman and Doss on the following day.
Both men were placed in a Prisoner of War status. The two were held in the Hanoi
prisoner of war system for the next five years. They were both released, along
with 589 other Americans, in the spring of 1973 in Operation Homecoming.
Since the war ended, nearly 10,000 reports relating to Americans missing,
prisoner or unaccounted for in Southeast Asia have been received by the U.S.
Government. Many authorities who have examined this largely classified
information are convinced that hundreds of Americans are still held captive
today. These reports are the source of serious distress to many returned
American prisoners. They had a code that no one could honorably return unless
all of the prisoners returned. Not only that code of honor, but the honor of our
country is at stake as long as even one man remains unjustly held. It's time we
brought our men home.
November 1996
Dale Doss retired from the United States Nay as a Captain. He and is wife
Stephany reside in Florida.
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