CONNOR, PATRICK K.
Name: Patrick K. Connor
Rank/Branch: Lieutenant JG/US Navy
Unit: VA 36, USS ROOSEVELT
Age: 25
Home City: Columbia MO
Date of Loss: 02 February 1991
Country of Loss: Kuwait
Loss Coordinates:
Status: Missing in Action
Status in 2002: KIA/Body recovered
Remains found on northern shoreline of the Persian Gulf 03/31/1991.
Acft/Vehicle/Ground: A6
Other Personnel in Incident:
Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 09 March 1991 from one or more of
the following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, published
sources, interviews. Update 2021 POW NETWORK.
REMARKS: OPERATION DESERT STORM
SYNOPSIS: The Grumman A6 Intruder is a two-man, all weather, low-altitude,
carrier based attack plane, with versions adapted as aerial tanker and
electronic warfare platform. The A6A primarily flies close air support, all
weather and night attacks on enemy troop concentrations, and night
interdiction missions. Its advanced navigation and attack system allows
small precision targets, such as bridges, barracks and fuel depots to be
located and attacked in all weather conditions, day or night. Their crews
are among the most talented and most courageous to serve the United States.
Lt.Cdr. Barry T. Cooke and LTJG Patrick Connor are Intruder pilots assigned
to Attack Squadron 36 (the "Roadrunners") onboard the USS ROOSEVELT in the
Persian Gulf. The Squadron's home base is Oceana Naval Station at Norfolk,
Virginia.
On February 2, 1991, the Intruder on which Cooke was the pilot and Connor
the co-pilot, was shot down off the coast of Kuwait during a strike mission
against Iraqi warships. Cooke and Connor were declared Missing in Action.
Search and rescue efforts were conducted for five days and then suspended,
without having found the missing airmen. Aircraft wreckage was located in
the water off Kuwait City, and according to one Connor family friend, the
Navy changed the status of the airmen to lost at sea. However, Pentagon
spokesmen, as of February 7, still list the two as Missing in Action.
Connor's family has hope that the two were able to eject safely and survive
or be captured.
Patrick Connor was a native of Columbia, Missouri, and attended elementary
and high school there. He graduated from the University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill with a Business degree. His home base was Norfolk,
Virginia and he was unmarried. Connor was shipped to the Middle East in
November 1990. His brother, Jeff Connor, is also in the military and is
currently stationed in the Middle East. Parents William and Martha Connor
lived in Columbia, Missouri until 1983 when they moved to Marcellus, New
York.