Tucked away in the little Warren, OH Tribune-Chronicle is this really nice item about a memorial fund set up by FNC chief Roger Ailes to honor the memory of a friend and Vietnam veteran:
His tragic death occurred 40 years ago, but the memory of U.S. Navy veteran Douglas M. Webster has continued to thrive locally and nationally.
A memorial fund has been established in honor of Webster, and his sacrifices in Vietnam were recognized recently in the 80th annual In Memory Day in Washington, D.C.
Webster, a 1960 graduate of Warren G. Harding High School, died Dec. 5, 1965, while on a tour of duty aboard the USS Ticonderoga.
His stepbrother, Michael Rawl of Delaware, said Webster’s A-4 Skyhawk was being pushed out onto the aircraft carrier elevator when the ship executed a turn. The Skyhawk, with Webster inside, fell off the side of the ship into very deep water off the coast of Yokosuka, Japan.
...Rawl and Roger Ailes, who was friends with Webster and is also founder of the Fox News Network, recently created a memorial fund in his name that is maintained by the Community Fund of the Mahoning Valley. The fund helps young people to develop personal ethics and physical strength through participation in the YMCA and athletics.
...In May 1998, Webster’s life was highlighted in one of two segments of a Fox News special called ‘‘Washington Classified: Too Many Secrets."
As the daughter of a Vietnam vet fighter pilot, I can tell you that honors like this are still too few and far between for these servicemen; kudos to Roger Ailes for quietly honoring the memory of an outstanding American.
