Vietnam Gallantry Cross, Vietnam Service Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal

Wade Andrew Lannom, Jr was born in Alameda, California on July 18, 1946 to Mr. and Mrs. Wade A Lannom, Sr., originally from Oklahoma.  The family moved to Las Vegas, NV where Wade attended Las Vegas High School for two years, graduating in 1965.

He returned to Achille, OK immediately after graduation, where he enlisted in the U.S. Navy on September 13, 1965.  He was deployed on the USS Forrestal which arrived in the Gulf of Tonkin off of North Vietnam on July 25, 1967 and began combat operations.  On the fifth day in Tonkin, the worst US carrier fire since WWII broke out on the flight deck, triggering a chain-reaction of explosions of ordnance that claimed Lannom's life along with 133 other men.

Lannom's body was recovered and is buried in Rosewood Cemetery in Achille, Oklahoma.

Watch a 45-minute video captured by the PLAT camera onboard the Forrestal at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6g6l_gjxXM4   

And read the article at:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1967_USS_Forrestal_fire  which describes the collective human errors in judgment that led to the "perfect storm" on the Forrestal that day in July 1967.