From Brownwood Bulletin and other local area papers on 2 August 1967: The Pentagon has listed five Texans killed and two missing in the explosions and fires aboard the aircraft carrier Forrestal, while unofficial sources reported two others from Texas among the missing. The official list of dead included: Aviation Electronics Technician George Elton Wall, son of Mr. and Mrs. Fred Wall, Dimmitt; Aviation Ordnanceman Frank Charles McNelis Jr., husband of Mrs. Suzanne McNeils, Pasadena; Airman Robert Bryan Cotten, son of Mrs. Winnie Lucille Murray, Dallas;. Seaman Ray Augustine Chatelain of Tenaha in East Texas; and Aviation Machinist's Mate Richard Hopkins Gibson, son of Mr. and Mrs. William Hopkins Gibson, San Antonio.
Richard was born in Guadalupe County, Texas to William Hopkins Gibson, Jr (8/23/1916 - 2/22/1992), also a Navy Veteran of WW II and Wilma Freida Klenke Gibson (6/19/1918 - 2/16/1990). Richard served on the aircraft carrier, USS Forrestal and died off North Vietnam as a non-hostile sea casualty on the day of a serious accident leading to a conflagration that killed 134 personnel. You can more about the USS Forrestal fire here.
