DOREMUS, ROBERT H.

Name: Robert Hartch Doremus
 [Military records show Capt. Doremus as Robert Hartch. The Captain informs
 us his middle name is BARTSCH.]

Rank/Branch: O4/United States Navy
Unit: VF 21
Date of Birth: 28 April 32
Home City of Record: Montclair NJ
Date of Loss: 24 August 65
Country of Loss: North Vietnam
Loss Coordinates:  201000 North 1054000 East
Status (in 1973): Returnee
Category:
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: F4B
Missions: 78
Other Personnel in Incident: Franke, Fred A. RETURNEE

Source: Compiled by P.O.W. NETWORK 24 February 1997 from one or more of the
following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with
POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews. Updated 2002.

REMARKS: 730212 RELEASED BY DRV

Fred A. Franke was the Commanding Officer of Fighter Squadron Twenty-One
flying from USS Midway (CVA41) in an F4B Phantom aircraft on 24 August 1965
when it was struck by a Surface-to-Air Missile (SAM) over North Vietnam. The
NFO, Cdr. R.B. Doremus and Franke ejected and were captured immediately upon
landing in rice fields. Rescue efforts were not immediately feasible due to
the location and the impending darkness (it was late in the afternoon). The
wingman reported seeing no parachutes, and they were officially listed as
Killed in Action shortly thereafter.

They spent the next 7 1/2 years imprisoned in Hanoi. Franke says he was
sustained during those long miserable years by my faith in God and his
country and the ever present knowledge that his fellow prisoners were near
and lending  moral support-the feeling was reciprocal. He occupied his time
with physical exercise within the cell and with meditation in prayer as well
as thoughts of past life, family and our wonderful country.

Robert B. Doremus retired from the United States Navy as a Captain. He and
his wife Alice reside in Ohio.