They Died Decades Apart, But 5 Sailors Honored in Same-Day Services

Memorial services were held Thursday to remember five sailors with Coronado ties and two very different ends.

At 1 p.m. Thursday, 46 years after their deaths, an interment ceremony was held at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia during a search-and-rescue mission in North Vietnam.

Due to difficulty in identifying their remains, Lt. Dennis Peterson, Ensign Donald Frye, AX2 William Jackson and AX2 Donald McGrane were laid to rest together.

All four men were part of Helicopter Squadron 2, which at the time was based at Naval Auxiliary Air Station Imperial Beach. Now known as HSC-12, the squadron is based at Naval Air Station North Island.

Jackson's son Glenn spoke about the decades-long journey to his father's interment Thursday.

NBC News and Washington Post covered the interment, attended by family members, Navy officers and the squadron's former commanding officer.

Thousands of miles away in Florida, at 2 p.m. Thursday at Naval Air Station Whiting Field, a memorial service was held for Chief Petty Officer Robert Roy, who was once assigned to the USS Carl Vinson.

Roy was killed in a car accident Sunday after the car he was in was hit by an alleged drunk driver.

Ironically, a simulator building at NAS Whiting Field was named after Lt. Peterson.

While serving aboard the Vinson, which is homeported in Coronado, Roy was an Imperial Beach Little League coach. Roy was looking forward to coaching his two sons' baseball teams after the move to Florida, IB league officials said.

He will be laid to rest in his native Maine, according to a Navy spokesman.