by Loyde W. McIllwain & Jon Yim
The power of networking veterans through a military social site recently helped find the answer to the identity of a Marine officer only known by his radio nickname.
On Dec. 19, 1972, an OV-10 Bronco observation plane flew over the skies of Vietnam on a mission, piloted by Air Force Captain Frank Egan, along with an aerial observer (AO), a Marine known only by those involved as "Wolfman 44" -- his call sign.
During the flight, the twin-engined Bronco was hit by an enemy heat-seeking missile. As Egan turned his crippled aircraft out to sea in an attempt to ditch it over water, another aircraft, piloted by Army Captain Warren Fuller, witnessed the incident and descended towards Egan's damaged plane.
"I declared myself the 'on-scene commander' and established radio contact with everyone that I thought could help," Fuller recalled. "He told me that he would have to punch out when he got to 800 feet." According to Fuller, he requested a Navy warship to steam toward the damaged Bronco. Fuller also enlisted the help of a flight of UH-1 Huey helicopters from Da Nang, a local ground commander in the general area, and a pair of jet fighters that had been working earlier with Capt. Egan.
As Egan's Bronco approached the coast, both he and Wolfman 44 ejected at about 800 feet -- but Fuller only saw one parachute deploy.
"Wolfman 44 contacted me when he hit the ground and told me Frank’s parachute never deployed and that he appeared to be dead," Fuller said. "I found out later that a D-ring prevented (Egan's) parachute from deploying." He thought that Wolfman 44 and Egan were picked up by a Huey and taken to the Navy warship, where Egan was officially pronounced dead.
A few days later, the Marine aerial observer came over to Fuller's outfit hoping to meet and thank him for his help, "But I was out on another mission," he recalled.
That was the last time Capt. Fuller would ever hear from "Wolfman 44."
For some 30 years since then, Warren Fuller had been personally searching for the man known as "Wolfman 44." All he had to go on was the aviator's call sign and a tip that he was a Marine attached to the 1st ANGLICO (Artillery-Naval Gunfire Liaison Company). Just mere scraps of information. In this age of rapid communications and social networking, he turned to the internet, posting his search for any details on the Marine aerial observer on various military website forums.
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WOLFMAN 44
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One of Fuller's posts caught the attention of members on the US Marines heritage community website, Marines.TogetherWeServed.com (Marines TWS). After reading the information posted by Fuller, several members took-on his quest as their personal mission. Within days of the post, there were many leads to the possible identity of Wolfman 44 -- but none panned-out.
On New Years Day 2010, a TogetherWeServed.com administrator received a phone call from former Army Specialist Mark Stovall, a member of the Marines' sister site, Army TWS. Stovall said he had first-hand knowledge of the events of Dec 19, 1972 -- he was the one who pulled Capt. Frank Egan from his downed aircraft.
"Captain Egan didn't eject," recalls Stoval. "I found him still strapped in his seat. I can't recall if he (Wolfman 44) was in the bird when I got there with Captain Egan, or was running like hell with me to get there himself."
Stovall added that it's hard for him to recall what exactly happened with all the activity that was going on at the time, as combat adrenaline tends to lend itself to distorted sensory perception.
"I don't remember much about Wolfman getting to Da Nang with us, but he must have," said Stovall. "I have to assume Wolfman got there as well and likely taken to the Gunfighter Compound at Da Nang Air Base because I didn't see him at (our) compound and it was just across the road."
As to Wolfman 44's name, Stovall said it must be in Air Force records of the event, since the Army had nothing in their documents mentioning any names of those flying with Egan that day. "It says the pilot died from 'injuries incurred during ejection," Stoval recounts. "That's an error -- I found him still strapped-in."
Fuller and Stovall, along with Marines TWS members, pressed-on by keeping track of every lead. Then on Jan. 5, a big break came from a Marines TWS member, retired Marine Sergeant Major James Butler.
"There was an aerial observer in our unit, a 1stLt. J.F. Patterson," said Butler. "He was recommended for the Purple Heart in Dec. 1972."
With that vital piece of information, Marines TWS members called upon their vast resources to locate information on 1stLt. Patterson. As it was a common name, there were several leads. TWS members narrowed and focused the search on those that fell within the age range to have served in Vietnam; narrowing a list to seven possibles, ranging from Kentucky to Texas.
The search for the enigmatic "Wolfman 44" was officially ended with a post on the Marines TWS site by member George Reilly of the TWS Personal Locator service: "Warren is on the phone with Wolfman 44 right now!"
After some 38 years of searching, former 1stLt. Jonathan F. Patterson of Spring, Texas -- aka "Wolfman 44" -- was located and reunited with Capt. Warren Fuller.
Patterson is now a member of Marines TWS, the website whose members worked every lead and put a name to the call sign "Wolfman 44."
