Biography
Captain Harold L. “Hal” Marr, U. S. Navy, Retired.
Born: 6 November 1926 in Roseburg, Oregon.
Enlisted in the U. S. Navy Combat Aircrew Program in 1944.
Completed Aviation Radioman “A” School, Aviation Radar School and Combat Air Gunnery School.
Entered the Navy V-5 Flight Preparatory School in 1945.
Four semesters of College, Pre-flight at Ottumwa, Iowa and Flight Training at NAS Corpus Christi, TX, NAS Pensacola, FL, and NAS Jacksonville, FL.
Designated a Naval Aviator in August 1948.
Tours of Duty Included:
1949 Fighter Squadron ONE THIRTY TWO
Flew F8F-1B Bearcat
1950-1952 Fighter Squadron ELEVEN
Flew F8F-1B, F2H-1, F2H-2 Banshees
1952-1954 Carrier Qualification Training Unit FOUR
Landing Signal Officer Instructor
Flew/Waved: SNJ, F6F, F8F, TBM, AD
1954-1955 Night Fighter Composite Squadron FOUR
Flew/Waved: F4U-5N, F3D-2, F2H-4, F9F-6
1955-1957 Naval Air Force Atlantic Fleet Staff
Fleet Senior LSO. Flew: T-28, F9F-8, F3D-2T, F7U-3, AD-5, A3-2P, F2H-3/4, TV-2, S2F
Waved: All Fleet Aircraft Day & Night
1957-1959 University of Washington
Student; BSBA in Personnel Management
1959-1960 U. S. Naval Post Graduate School
General Line School
1960-1961 U. S. Naval War College
Student: Command & Staff College
1961 Fighter Squadron ONE SEVENTY FOUR
RAG Training F8U-1, -2, -2N
1961-1963 Fighter Squadron ELEVEN, Executive Officer
Flew: F8A & E
1964 Fighter Squadron ONE SEVENTY FOUR
OPs Officer, Replacement Training Squadron
Flew: F8A, B, C, D, E, F9F-8T, TA-4
1964-1966 Fighter Squadron TWO ELEVEN
Executive Officer & Commanding Office
Flew: F8E Crusader
1966-1967 USS Constellation (CVA-64); Air Boss
1968-1969 Commander, Carrier Air Wing ONE
Flew: F4J, A4C, RA5C
First Cruise on USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67)
1969-1970 National War College
1970-1972 OP-09D Special Studies & Presentation Group
1972-1974 CINCLANT-CINCLANT FLEET Staff, Assistant
Chief of Staff, Operations.
1974 Retired Sept.
Carrier Duty 1948-1969
CVS-9 USS Essex
LSO: F4U-5N
CVA-11 USS Intrepid
Carrier Landings (CL): F2H-4
LSO: F2H-4
CVA-14 USS Ticonderoga
CL: F2H-3,4
LSO: F2H-3,4, F9F-8, F7U, AD (1st Cutlass Med Cruise)
CVA-15 USS Randolph
CL: F2H-4
LSO: F2H-4, F9F-8, AD
CVT-16 USS Lexington
CL: A-4
CVA-19 USS Hancock
CL: F8E (Two WestPac, Double Centurion)
CVA-20 USS Bennington
CL: F2H-4
LSO: F2H-4, F9F-5, FgF-8 (lst Cougar Nite Qual)
CVL-26 USS Monterey
CL: SNJ, F6F, F8F
LSO:SNJ, F6F, TBM
CVL-28 USS Cabot
CL: SNJ, F6F
CVS-32 USS Leyte
LSO: F4U-5 (Guatemala)
CV-34 USS Oriskany
CL: F2H-2 (2,000th Landing)
CVS-36 USS Antietam
LSO: F2H-4, F9F-8P, AD, AF, TBM
CVA-38 USS Shangri-La
CL: F8D
CVS-39 USS Lake Champlain
LSO: F4U-5, AD, AF
CVS-40 USS Tarawa
LSO: F4U-5N, AD, AF
CVA-41 USS Midway
LSO: F2H-4
CVB/CVA 42 USS F. D. Roosevelt
CL: F8F-1B, F8U-2N/2NE (Med Cruise, Centurion)
CVB-43 USS Coral Sea
CL:F2H-2 (Med Cruise)
CVS-45 USS Valley Forge
CL: F4U-5N
LSO: F4U-5N, AD, AF, S2F
CV-47 USS Philippine Sea
CL: F8F-IB
CVL-49 USS Wright
CL:SNJ, F6F
LSO: F4U-5N, AD
CVA-59 USS Forrestal
CL:F9F-8, F8U-2NE/F8E
LSO: FJ-3, F2H-4, F3H, F4D, F7U, F9F-8, F11F, AD, A3D, A4D, AJ-2P, WF, S2F (1st Cruise to Med)
CVA-60 USS Saratoga
CL: F8D/E
LSO: F3H, F4D, F8U-1, F11F, A3D, A4D
CVA-64 USS Constellation
Asst/Air Boss (Two WestPac)
CVA-65 USS Enterprise
CL: F8U-1
CVA-67 USS John F. Kennedy
CL: F4J, A4 (1st CL, 1st Centurion, 1st MedCruise)
HMS Ark Royal
LSO: F2H-4, F3H, F4D, F9F-8, A4D, AD, WF
HMCS Magnificent
LSO: TBM
Carrier Pilot Downs
MiG 17 With Missile
2nd Red Jet Damaged
By Gunfire
SAIGON, June 12 (AP)
A U.S. Navy pilot from the aircraft carrier Hancock shot down a Communist MiG 17 over North Viet Nam Sunday, the U. S. command said Monday.
The MiG was shot down by a Navy F8 Crusader, a single-seat jet.
The Navy flier credited with the latest MiG kill is CDR H. L. Marr, commanding officer of VF-212 fighter squadron on the Hancock.
Four vs. Four
Marr led his flight of four Crusaders on a mission over North Viet Nam when the flight encountered four MiGs, Navy sources said.
A Navy spokesman said Marr or another of the pilots of his flight had hit and damaged second MiG 17 in the encounter.
Navy sources said the encounter with the MiGs took place southwest of the port of Haiphong.
This was the first time MiGs were encountered in this area. Previously, the MiGs were engaged north or northeast of Hanoi.
U. S. Jet Drops 13th Red MiG
New Buddhist Riots Sweep Saigon Streets
SAIGON, June 13 (AP) A U. S. Navy pilot destroyed the 13th Communist MiG of the war in an air battle Sunday between the key North Vietnamese cities of Hanoi and Haiphong, and narrowly missed getting a second. But two U. S. planes were lost in new air attacks on the Communist North Monday.
The political kettle boiled again in South Viet Nam when Buddhist demonstrators swept through the streets of Saigon and riot police responded with clouds of tear gas. The disorder ended two weeks of comparative calm in the capital and followed a day of giant pro-government, anti-Communist demonstrations by Roman Catholics.
Cdr Hal L. Marr of Roseburg, Ore., scored the hit on the MiG with his second beat-seeking Sidewinder in a numerically equal dogfight between four F8 Crusader jets from the carrier Hancock and four Soviet-designed MiGs.
A U. S. spokesman said the encounter occurred 31 miles northwest of Haiphong, North Viet Nam's main port, and 35 miles northeast of Hanoi, the capital.
The missile homed in on the MiG’s hot tailpipe and destroyed it. Marr, commanding officer of Fighter Squadron 211 aboard the Hancock, attacked another MiG with his 20mm cannon and hit its right wing but ran out of ammunition before he could finish off the enemy plane. The damaged plane apparently limped home.
Star Telegram
Ft. Worth, Texas
Tuesday Morning, June 14, 1966
PILOT’S JOB SECURE
Radar, Computer Not Ready
To Take on Flying Chores
SAIGON, South Viet Nam (AP) Missiles and radar and computers may some day eliminate the seat-of-the-pants pilot who relishes combat in the sky. But it hasn't yet, at least in Viet Nam.
Navy CDR Harold L. Marr of Roseburg, Ore., told Monday of his “eyeball-to-eyeball” fight with four Communist MiGs that went largely by the old rules. He knocked one of the Soviet-built jets from the sky and winged a second.
The Navy brought the lanky, 40 year-old career pilot to Saigon to tell of his first air battle.
The jubilant commander said he and his wingman, (LTjg) Phil Vampatella of Islip Terrace, N. Y., and two other pilots were assigned from the carrier Hancock to fly cover in their F8 Crusaders for an air strike on a military area 30 miles northwest of the North Vietnamese port city of Haiphong.
The battle was fought at speeds of 600 to 700 miles an hour in a circle that was about three miles in diameter and “anywhere from 50 feet off the ground up to the bottom of the clouds, which were layered at about 3,500 feet,” Marr said.
“You were looking airplanes eyeball to eyeball most of the time, either your own or a MiG,” he said.
He said that as far as he knew, none of the MiGs fired at the U. S. planes.
“My good wingman, Mr. Vampatella, contacted, or tallyhoed two bogeys at about our 9 o’clock position,” Marr said. “He immediately broke into them.”
Marr said the MiGs, Obsolescent 17s, had their afterburners on for more speed.
“We were at the time at about 2,000 feet. The two MiGs overshot and slid away past us,” he said.
“We reversed back into the MiGs and got into a classic scissor encounter that you would see in, say, World War II type fighting.
“I fired the Sidewinder.
“As you know, the sidewinder is a heat-seeking missile and I think that the reflection from the clouds and sun were just too much. I thought it was going to home and it went off to the side.
“The MiG broke down a little bit so I could get a better shot and I fired the second missile that zapped him real fine.
“When I confirmed that the airplane hit the ground and made it back around we were at that time in a little clear area where there were no clouds and I could see two other MiGs just circling around the area.”
Jacksonville Journal
Jacksonville, Florida, Monday, June 13, 1966
Shot Down First MiG He Ever Saw
Jacksonville, Florida, Monday, June 13, 1966
SAIGON (AP) - For 17 years, lanky Harold Marr planned for the day he would see his first Communist MiG in combat.
Yesterday, CDR Marr, of Roseburg, Ore., saw the first MiGs of his life. He shot down one MiG 17 and was chewing up another with cannon fire when his ammunition ran out.
Beaming with exuberance, Marr told today of the stomach-churning melee with four MiGs and four U. S. Navy Crusaders twisting at 400 to 700 miles per hour in a three-mile circle.
The whole action was fought below 4,000 feet and one MiG clipped treetops as it escaped. For the whole four minutes, Marr’s body was being pulled by four times the force of gravity.
“We were acting as MiG-cap,” he reported, “and had been in the area five or six minutes. The strike planes were pulling out and we were heading generally north.”
“My good wingman tally-hoed two bogeys at nine o’clock and he broke into them.”
That was LTjg Phil Vampatella of Islip Terrace, N.Y., a 26-year-old also in his first test against the Communist MiGs.
The MiGs - practically as fast as the Crusaders at that altitude had the advantage of position.
“They were on afterburner and attempting to make a pass at us,” Marr said. “They overshot us and slid by and we got into a series of scissors maneuvers.”
That is when onrushing jets attempt to cut tighter and tighter to get on an opponent’s tail.
Marr fired one Sidewinder missile at the MiG ahead of him, but the missile soared off after the sun, its heat-seeking device confused by the low clouds and weather conditions.
“I fired the second missile and it zapped him real fine,” Marr beamed.
The Communist pilot did not parachute. His plane blew up
In the confusion, Marr found himself astern a second MiG.
“I was chewing on his starboard wingtip when I ran out of ammo and had to go home,” Marr said.
He saw bits of metal shearing off the wing of his opponent, but said it was not enough to bring the MiG to earth.
“To the best of my knowledge, none of the four [MiGs] ever fired a shot at us,” Marr added.
How good were the MiG fliers?
“As good as I was interested in finding yesterday,” he said.
He said the Crusaders were flying such low altitude because the mission was “inside the missile envelope” that protects Hanoi and Haiphong.
“We didn’t want to be up there at 15,000 feet and have a telephone pole shoved at us,” he said, using pilot’s slang for the Russian-built surface-to-air missiles.
It was the first time that the Navy’s Crusaders had come up against the Russian-built jets.
It was also one year ago this month that the first MiG in the Vietnamese war was brought down. Marr’s kill brought the score to 13 shot down, against three Air Force and Navy jets lost in aerial dogfights.
Also reported in:
“Monterey Herald”
Monday, June 13, 1966
“Fort Worth Star Telegram”
Monday, June 13, 1966
“The Oregonian”
Tuesday, June 14, 1966
Letter to Lou Ives
17 July 1948
SWAMPLAND SOUTH - - At the Auxiliary Docking Facility alongside South-Bank of Quacks Pond where tired ole Fighter Puke conducting intensive Navel Investigation, keeping the Light Leak Chamber in high state of readiness and otherwise flying low and slow just like Mama told me to …
Mundane the last of these Auger In days in the year MCMXCII, plus or minus a few …
I ran across the enclosed sometime back and finally got some copies made at the Photo Shop. Rather than write on them pictures will give you the hot skinny in this gram as follows:
The two N2S pictures taken at NAS Glenview in Nov/Dec 1946 timeframe. That ole watashi-na – then Aviation Cadet "Hal" Marr whilst going through Selective Flight Training. That coming right after completing V-5 College and before heading for Preflight School at Ottumwa, Iowa.
The 6-body picture taken at NAAS Saufley Field sometime in March 1948. That the "hottest" SNJ Gunnery Flight-that ever came down the pike!! Kneeling: L-R, George "Animal" Hummel and Robert L. "Sport" Horton. Standing: L-R, George Espy Ridgeway, "Gus" Kinnear,II, William F. "Bill" Quarg, ?? "Hop" Holden, and Harold L. "Hal" Marr.
The good lookin’ female Aviation Midshipman (Admiral to be) picture taken Christmas 1947 at Weeki Wachee Springs, Florida. The back of my head, Miss Mildred Ann Randall who became Mrs. Toni Marr 25 Aug 1950 and R.J.T. 'Woody" Wood from St. Pete. Toni and Gus Kinnear are from Brooksville, Florida and Woody, Gus and I "hitch-hiked" from Pensacola to Brooksville for Christmas leave – Woody going on to St. Pete and then stopping on the way back to join us for the "thumb" back to P-cola. As I recall, that uniform says we were Aviation Midshipman 2d Class at the time.
Hope there will be another East Coast type get together along the way. We can’t let them West Coast Pukes get too far ahead of us.
You hang in there keeping the lint filter clean and the system bugger free.
CARES ABOUND …
Warm regards,
/s/ Hal
Letter to Pat Francis
SWAMPLAND SOUTH //(:-)¿?¿(:o:)¿?¿(;-)//Prostrate RotoRooter Rehab Hospice hard on Soggy Southbank of Quack's Pond, E Plumtuckeredout Rectus, Hisself, In-Charge of absolutely Zip, Zilche, Zero and Zed …
It is now dinging 0900 hours on this ThirdsDay de Leapeth Year Extension, or the 29th of FebGruWeary in MCMXCVI, or better known as The Year of The Rat-Fink …
Nothing like being timely in responding to your request for providing some names for the enclosed photos. it seem I have more excuses than the law should allow – and none of them are worth a damn!! Reckon we just have to chalk it up to the fact that I are getting long of tooth and just not too damn reliable. I did spend considerable time – couple minutes – trying to come up with some names for two of those pictures, but that are poor excuse.
Anyhoot, here goes with the best I can come up with:
The two pictures with "handsome" young tiger standing beside and then seated in "Yellow Peril” type flying bird:
Picture with two handsome Midshipman and "Good Looking Dolly" with palm tree in background:
Keep that worthless Lou Ives out of trouble......... /s/ Hal