Lucky Bag Yearbook

From the 1961 Lucky Bag:

TERENCE MEREDITH MURPHY

Murph — 18th Company

Murph came to Mother Bancroft from the great Empire State straight out of high school. Along with him came a never ending bag of jokes and the accent of a typical New Yorker. Through the trials and tribulations of academic year Murph encountered no great trouble. His studies were attacked in an extremely typical manner, one eye on the clock so he’d be sure to keep his studying to a minimum. Although Murph was an active competitor on company sports squads, he enjoyed the unequaled distinction of being pinned in every bout with the ‘Blue Dragon.’ Contrary to popular belief, Murph does have a serious side, and good things should be heard of him in his chosen field of Navy Air.

Loss

Terence was lost on April 9, 1965 when his F-4 Phantom II was shot down during an air-to-air engagement with North Vietnamese fighters over the South China Sea, likely by a missile fired by an American aircraft.

From Aviation Safety:

The outcome of VF-96’s (and the F-4B’s) first MiG engagement remains uncertain. Lt(jg) Terry Murphy and “rookie” Ens Ron Fegan were section leaders for a VF-96 BARCAP on April 9, 1965, replacing an F-4B (BuNo 151425) that had crashed shortly after being launched from USS Ranger.

The rapidly rearranged Combat Air Patrol entered its orbit as two separated sections, each on different radio frequencies. Murphy and Fegan, in “Showtime 611” (BuNo 151403), took their section close enough to Communist Chinese Hainan Island for four Chinese navy Shenyang F-5s from the Nanhai Naval Air Group to be launched from Lingshui Naval Air Force Base.

Turning to investigate the contacts on their radar scopes, Murphy and Fegan became separated from their wingmen, Lt Howie Watkins and Lt(jg) Jack Mueller, who in turn were attacked by a MiG 17F. The latter disengaged its afterburner and turned back for a second run at the F-4. Moments later, Murphy apparently fired an AIM-7 AAM at a MiG during a vertical maneuver, but he was not contactable again, until an aircraft (possibly mistakenly identified as a MiG by Mueller) was seen falling away into the clouds in flames.

Meanwhile, all three of the remaining VF-96 F-4Bs became involved in individual dogfights, and at least four AIM-7 and three AIM-9 launches were attempted, although all missiles either failed to track or did not leave the aircraft. According to the pilot of the No 4 MiG-17F, Capt Li Dayun (interviewed in 1994 by a Joint Task Force investigator), “Showtime 611” was hit by one of these malfunctioning missiles and crashed just offshore, killing its crew.

He reported that the four MiG pilots never received permission to fire, and claimed that all returned to base, although Murphy’s crew was subsequently awarded a MiG kill. The engagement was then “buried” so as to avoid provoking an international incident, but some problems that would arise over and over again in future combats were revealed for the first time.

Poor communications, lack of flight formation integrity, unreliable missiles, and out-of-parameters missile launches were to be frequent themes for the next seven years, as was the determination of the Chinese to defend their airspace. There were also other cases where Phantom IIs were accidentally fired on by “friendly” missiles.

Other Information

From researcher Kathy Franz:

Terence graduated from St. Helena High School in the Bronx.

Awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal and the Purple Heart.

Survivors: wife Claire, father John, clerk for a steamship line, mother Helen, and sister Laura.

Terence was also survived by two daughters, Helen and Ingrid. (From the obituary of his wife, who passed away in 2022.) At that time the two daughters had a combined eight children, including Rory Hagerty ‘23.

Terence has one memory marker in Arlington National Cemetery and another in Hawaii.

Remembrances

From Wall of Faces:

I was a plane captain in VF-96 from 1962 through 1965 and knew Mr Fegan and Mr Murphy as brave men that flew off into darkness, into a war that is still not understood to face untold dangers then return to a darkened ship in rough seas and they did it time and time again. I was honored to know them. God’s speed. HUGHLYN KEITH, 9/7/03

From an unidentified classmate at the Class of 1961’s Last Call:

Terence Meredith “Murph” Murphy ’61 Terry came to the class of 1961 from Flushing, NY. He, like myself, was assigned to the 18th company. During plebe year he and roommates Curt White, Dan McLaughlin, and Jerry Black moved into the room next to me. Roommates came and went, but Murph and Jerry Black were always next door for four years. I got to know Murph very well. The one thing you immediately noticed was his easy going, friendly nature. You simply liked him. No matter what transpired at USNA Murph simply took it all in stride. Nothing seemed to phase him.

After graduation Murph married Claire McNamara from New York City and proceeded to Pensacola for flight training. Murph wound up in the relatively new F4 program. The Vietnam War had begun and Murph and his wingman launched on a night combat air patrol off the coast of North Vietnam near the Chinese island of Hainan. Sometime during the mission Murph’s F4 was shot down and he was last seen crashing into the ocean off the coast of North Vietnam. Murph’s death was a shock and personal loss to all who knew him. We miss that easy going pleasant personality that simply was Murph.

From Howard Winfree ‘61 via email on April 13, 2026:

Terry was just a good-natured, likable guy who was also a very good pilot who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. That’s what being a pilot in combat was like - lots of skill and lots of luck, either one way or the other.

My last remembrances of Terry were of him holding my young son as he was being christened, and of his daughter, Helen, in a stroller at our house in Beeville, TX. Speaking to his grandson who was also a USNA grad closed the circle.

Distinguished Flying Cross

The Daily News (New York) reported on August 6, 1965 that he had been posthumously awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.