Date: Fri 13-Oct-1995

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDREA

Quick Words:

Vogel-helicopter-crash-Navy

Full Text:

WITH PHOTO: Newtown Man Dies In Navy Helicopter Crash

Lt Robert W. Vogel, USN, 29, formerly of Newtown, died October 3, in a Navy

helicopter crash in the Atlantic Ocean off the Virginia coast. The helicopter

was taking part in a training exercise and was flying about 10 miles from the

amphibious assault ship USS Guam when it was reported missing shortly after 9

pm that evening, according to Kevin Wensing, a spokesman for the Navy's

Atlantic Fleet Air Force.

The two pilots and two crew members on board were all killed in the crash. The

dual-engined helicopter was assigned to combat support squadron 6 at the

Norfolk Naval Air Station.

"He was very patriotic - devoted to his country," said his grandmother, Grace

Vogel of Southbury. "This is what he really, really wanted - to fly and be a

pilot in the sky."

"And he had to fight to get it," added his grandfather, Robert Vogel,

referring to Lt Vogel's come back after suffering severe spinal injuries in an

automobile accident four years ago. "He was a great guy - very competitive,

very loving, very family oriented."

Born in Groton on February 13, 1966, Lt Vogel was raised in Newtown. He

graduated from Newtown High School in 1984, and then attended LaFayette

College for a year. He enrolled in the Naval Academy where he earned a BS in

Ocean Engineering in 1989. While at the Naval Academy he was company commander

of the fourteenth company.

Following his graduate Lt Vogel attended flight school at Pensacola Fla., and

was then stationed in Washington, D.C. and San Diego. He was deployed on the

USS Sacramento and served in Somolia, the Middle East, and the Persian Gulf

War. During this period he earned the Surface Warfare Officer pEn Note: this

should be pEn . He was later stationed in Norfolk, Va., in the HC6 Squadron,

and then deployed on the USS Kearsarge in the Adriatic Sea. The pilot returned

to Norfolk, Va., and was a member of a search and rescue squadron.

Longtime family friend Virginia King, described Lt Vogel as "steady, reliable,

honest and totally trustworthy." There was a quiet strength in this humble

man, she said.

Besides his grandparents he is survived by his parents Robert and Judith

Wescott Vogel who had lived in Newtown for 25 years, before recently moving to

Alpharetta, Ga.; a sister, Karen Hope Vogel of Alexandria, Va.; and aunt and

uncles Christine and Jim Lorenzen of Medway, Mass., and Rich Wescott of

Minneapolis, Minn.

Funeral Services will be held Sunday, October 22, at 2 pm, at the Newtown

Congregational Church, with full military honors. Interment will take place in

Newtown Village Cemetery.

Friends may call at the Honan Funeral Home, 58 Main Street, Newtown, on

Saturday, October 21, from 1 to 4 and 7 to 9 pm.

Contributions may be made to the Navy Relief Rob Vogel Memorial Fund, c/o

Norfolk Naval Air Station, HC6 1348 CV Towway, Norfolk, Va., 23511-2595.