What I Never Knew About the USS Forrestal Fire, From a Man Who Survived It

It was about 10:30 in the morning on July 29, 1967. Joe Duarte was underneath an F-4 Phantom on the flight deck of USS Forrestal, hooking up the air start for the second launch of the day, when the first explosion went off. A volunteer firefighter back home, he jumped into the catwalk and started handing out fire hoses. Then two more bombs exploded, and he knew he couldn't stay.

Joe grew up in Holbrook, Long Island, and joined the Navy in 1965 with his Army draft notice already in hand. Trained as an AME (Aviation Structural Mechanic, Safety Equipment), he serviced ejection seats, liquid oxygen and pilot masks for the VF-74 Be-Devilers. In this episode he takes us from boot camp at Great Lakes to the crossing-the-line ceremony, life aboard a 5,500-man carrier, and five days on Yankee Station before the Navy's deadliest carrier fire since World War II.

He tells us about the shrapnel that cut through his arm, the bone set without enough morphine, the chaplain who arrived at his family's door with a $10,000 check because the Navy thought he was dead, nine months of rehab at St. Albans, and the life he built afterward.This episode is dedicated to the 134 sailors and aviators who lost their lives aboard USS Forrestal on July 29, 1967, to the 161 who were injured, and to every crew member who fought that fire.

Content advisory: This episode includes descriptions of fire, explosions, death and serious injury. Veterans Crisis Line: call 988 then press 1, text 838255, or visit VeteransCrisisLine.net.

⏱️ CHAPTERS

00:30 Growing up in Holbrook, Long Island

02:28 Drafted, so he joined the Navy

04:22 Boot camp and becoming an AME

07:36 The VF-74 Be-Devilers and the F-4 Phantom

09:50 Life aboard USS Forrestal

15:27 The voyage to Vietnam

24:09 Yankee Station, Gulf of Tonkin

28:10 July 29, 1967: the Forrestal fire

31:29 Sick bay and surgery

39:30 The long road home

43:39 The chaplain at the door

44:55 Nine months at St. Albans

50:19 The shipmates who didn't come home

53:42 Life after the Navy, and looking back

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