Raymond Henry HUNT

Raymond Henry HUNT Update Details

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HUNT, Raymond Henry

Service Number:	R54257
Enlisted:	26 April 1958, Fremantle, Western Australia
Last Rank:	Chief Electrician Weapons Radio
Last Unit:	HMAS Hobart (I)
Born:	Perth, Western Australia, 21 November 1940
Home Town:	Geraldton, Western Australia
Schooling:	Not yet discovered
Occupation:	Permanent RAN
Died:	Ship hit by rocket, Vietnam, At sea (Vietnam waters), 17 June 1968, aged 27 years
Cemetery:	Karrakatta Cemetery & Crematorium, Western Australia
Memorials:	Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, East Rockingham Vietnam War Roll of Honour, Fremantle Royal Australian Navy in Vietnam Memorial, Grafton Clarence Valley Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Kallangur Vietnam Veterans' Place, Port Pirie Vietnam Veterans Honour Wall, Seymour Vietnam Veterans Commemorative Walk Roll of Honour

Non Warlike Service

26 Apr 1958:	Enlisted Royal Australian Navy, Radio Electrical Mechanic 2, R54257, HMAS Cerberus (Shore), Fremantle, Western Australia

Vietnam War Service

22 Mar 1968:	Involvement Royal Australian Navy, Chief Petty Officer, R54257, HMAS Hobart (I)
22 Mar 1968:	Involvement Royal Australian Navy, Chief Electrician Weapons Radio, R54257, HMAS Hobart (I)
17 Jun 1968:	Involvement Royal Australian Navy, Chief Electrician Weapons Radio, R54257, HMAS Hobart (I)

Help us honour Raymond Henry Hunt's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.

Biography contributed by Trevor Whittington

Killed in Action when his Ship was hit by a rocket.

While on the gun line with Yankee Station, off the coast of North Vietnam, the Hobart was struck by three Sparrow missiles fired from a USAF 7th Air Force aircraft (one of the three missiles failed to explode). Two crewmen were killed and seven injured.

HMAS Hobart, in company with the heavy cruiser USS Boston (CAG-1), had been in the vicinity of two US Navy Swift Boats (PCF-12 & PCF-19) that were under attack by North Vietnamese Helicopters on 16 June 1968. The initially "unidentified hovering aircraft" had sunk PCF-19, and PCF-12 had been involved with a 2 hour running gun battle with other hovering aircraft. When US jet aircraft arrived on the scene, hours later, the enemy aircraft had departed, and the US jets attacked the Boston and Hobart. The USS Boston suffered no casualties, and was only slightly damaged in the attack.

Possibly owing to both attacks occurring around the hours of midnight, and the enemy's unprecedented use of hovering aircraft to attack allied forces during the war, the two events had somehow been combined into one action, with the concluding official report stating "Fractricide.”

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