Remembering alumni lost on 9/11

IN MEMORIAM

To read their full biographies, please visit www.usnamemorialhall.org/ index.php/Category:9/11

Kenneth M. McBrayer ’74 was at work on the 104th floor of the South Tower. Captain John D. Yamnicky Sr. ’52, USN (Ret.), was aboard Flight 77 en route to Los Angeles on business for a military contractor, Veridian Engineering.

Kenneth E. Waldie ’78 was aboard Flight 11 that crashed into the North Tower.

Commander Patrick S. Dunn ’85, USN, had recently been assigned to a position on the Chief of Naval Operations staff at the Pentagon. His office was hit by Flight 77. Commander William H. Donovan Jr. ’86, USN, was in the Pentagon when Flight 77 crashed. This month, we commemorate a solemn anniversary that shook America. Twenty years ago, terrorists hijacked four commercial airplanes and took 2,977 lives. Over the course of about 85 minutes, the planes were crashed into the twin World Trade Center buildings, the Pentagon and a field in Shanksville, PA.

The horrific memories of that day remain. However, the Naval Academy community will always remember and honor the 14 alumni lost that tragic day.

Rear Admiral Wilson “Buddy” Flagg ’61, USNR (Ret.), and his wife, Darlene, were aboard Flight 77, headed for a family gathering in California.

Captain Gerald R. DeConto ’79, USN, was at the Pentagon organizing a response to the crisis in New York from his office in the D Ring.

Lieutenant Commander Ronald J. Vauk ’87, USNR, was serving the second day of his annual Reserve duty at the Pentagon. Kevin R Connors ’69 was working on the 84th floor of the World Trade Center South Tower.

Captain Robert E. Dolan Jr. ’81, USN, was in his office on the first floor of D Ring in the Pentagon when Flight 77 struck.

Lieutenant Jonas M. Panik ’97, USNR, was part of the staff of the Chief of Naval Operations Intelligence Plot and was working in the Pentagon. Captain Charles R Burlingame III ’71, USNR, was piloting American Airlines Flight 77 before it was hijacked.

Lieutenant Commander Michael G. McGinty ’81, USN, was working at Marsh USA as an insurance broker in the World Trade Center.

Lieutenant Junior Grade Darin H. Pontell ’98, USN, was nearing the end of a 12-hour shift at the Pentagon when Flight 77 crashed.

AN OCEAN AWAY

20 YEARS OF SERVICE AND FRIENDSHIP

By Commander Jack Holthaus ’05, USN

Induction Day, 29 June 2001. The Class of 2005 was the last class to enter the Naval Academy before 11 September 2001. Our careers have been defined by wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, either serving on the ground, in the air or in the waters of the Arabian Gulf and the Mediterranean Sea. While everyone who was alive remembers where they were when the towers fell, the graduates of the Class of 2005 were in places such as plebe chemistry, English or somewhere in Mother B. Our lives would become intertwined with the people whom we shared these events.

Like the classes that came before and after the Class of 2005, our time at the Academy was a time to build friendships that would stand the test of time. We had the reality of war on the horizon after our time in Annapolis. We studied hard, played hard on the nights and weekends and traveled around the world to experience the fleet in the summers. With time spent in Bancroft, on liberty in Annapolis, visiting friends at other “real” colleges or through trips to the Army-Navy game—we built relationships that could be kept strong despite the miles or time that separated us. Then-Midshipman Rick Slye ’05, and I, and many of the other members of 30th Company, spent most of our four years living on the same floor of one of the largest dormitories in the United States. Almost all of us left the Academy and started our professional lives together as officers in the Navy or Marines.

Slye (then a lieutenant) and I were first stationed together as commissioned officers at Surface Warfare Officer School (SWOS) in Newport, RI, in 2012. As our families grew over the years, our spouses would become friends and our kids would play together in duty stations around the country. This story can be repeated by most of my classmates, whether they remained on active duty or decided to move on to other endeavors.

COVID-19 had unprecedented effects on the Navy, the military, the country and the world. Commander Slye and I most recently found ourselves assigned as executive officers on ships across the pier in Yokosuka, Japan. Before this tour, we were both assigned to the Pentagon, and our families remained at our last duty station. Our spouses continued to meet, and our kids kept playing while we were halfway around the world. This is the third duty station we’ve shared since leaving Annapolis, and the bond that formed in 15th and 30th Companies, on 7-4, 8-0 and finally 8-4, has shaped this 20-year friendship. From bracing as plebes in Hotel Company, to running the day-to-day operations on our ships in 7th Fleet, we’ve come a long way,

CDR Rick Slye ’05, USN, and CDR Jack Holthaus ’05, USN, on the pier of their respective ships in Yokosuka, Japan: MUSTIN (DDG 89) and CHANCELLORSVILLE (CG 62). supported by our families, who support each other wherever the Navy sends us.

In the words of “Navy Blue and Gold:”

“Four years together by the Bay,

Where Severn joins the tide,

Then by the Service called away,

We’re scattered far and wide;

But still when two or three shall meet,

And old tales be retold,

From low to highest in the Fleet,

We’ll pledge the Blue and Gold”

It’s easy to lose touch after leaving Annapolis, but I charge you to continue to gather with friends whenever the opportunity presents. U.S. Naval Academy graduates share similar values of duty to country and shipmate over self. Our families can reach out to each other when we are deployed and can lend a hand, share a story or help watch kids for a much-needed break. You never know when you’ll meet again and it’s great to have a liberty buddy anywhere in the world! a

CDR Jack Holthaus ’05, USN, is a nuclear surface warfare officer assigned as executive officer of CHANCELLORSVILLE (CG 62), homeported in Yokosuka, Japan. Selected as a Bowman Scholar in 2004, CDR Holthaus attended the Naval Postgraduate School immediately after graduation. He previously served in CHAFFEE (DDG 90), ENTERPRISE (CVN 65), MAHAN (DDG 72) and GEORGE H.W. BUSH (CVN 77) and on the OPNAV staff. In August, CDR Holthaus reported to the Stimson Center as a Federal Executive Fellow before his next afloat assignment as commanding officer.