★★★ Memorial Monday ★★★
LT Richard Dempsey, Jr., USN was lost on January 27, 1989 when the F-14 Tomcat he was aboard crashed in the Arizona desert. Richard was the radar intercept officer; the pilot was also killed. They were flying from San Diego to New Orleans. Oxygen deprivation may have contributed to the crash.
Richard graduated into the surface line community and earned his surface warfare officer's pin before earning his wings as a naval flight officer in 1986.
A father to two young girls, his wife, Susan, said it was hard to of which he was prouder. "His flying and his girls were his life."
Richard was the son of a Navy Commander who at various times had called Monterey, San Diego, and Clearwater (FL) home.
He was survived by his wife, Susan; daughters Ashley, 3, and Katelynn, 15 months; his parents; a sister, Sheryl Lyn Flath of Watsonville; and a grandmother, Mary Elizabeth Barnes of Florida. He was also survived by his mother and father-in-law.
To Honor! ⚓
https://usnamemorialhall.org/index.php/RICHARD_E._DEMPSEY,_JR.,_LT,_USN