VETERAN OF THE DAY
September 3, 2026
2nd Lieutenant John David Kramer
United States Marine Corps
Marine Aviator
VMFA-115 “Silver Eagles”
Marine Aircraft Group 11 • 1st Marine Aircraft Wing
July 28, 1939 – May 25, 1966
Beltsville • Prince George’s County • Maryland
Panel 7E • Line 109
“Some Marines Fought Through the Jungles. John Kramer Took the Fight Into the Sky.”
A Son of Maryland
Before the Phantom.
Before Vietnam.
Before the Silver Eagles.
There was John David Kramer, a son of Beltsville, Maryland.
John was born on July 28, 1939.
His parents were Claude J. and Dorothy Kramer, and Beltsville was the community listed as his home when military service eventually carried him thousands of miles away. A later alumni memorial also records his parents as his survivors. (Yohi FSA)
John chose the United States Marine Corps.
But his path through the Corps would lead somewhere particularly demanding.
Into aviation.
Wings of Gold
Becoming a Marine aviator requires something beyond simply learning to fly.
The Marine pilot must first be a Marine officer, then master an aircraft that turns speed, altitude and technology into weapons of war.
John became a pilot.
His recorded military occupational specialty was 7352, pilot. (Yohi FSA)
Eventually, he was assigned to one of the Marine Corps’ fighter-attack squadrons:
VMFA-115
THE SILVER EAGLES
The squadron operated the mighty McDonnell F-4B Phantom II.
And the Phantom was no ordinary airplane.
It was fast.
Powerful.
Twin-engined.
Two-seat.
Built to carry a formidable array of weapons.
And by 1966 it had become one of the defining American combat aircraft of the Vietnam War.
John Kramer was entrusted to fly it.
Vietnam
John served with VMFA-115, Marine Aircraft Group 11, 1st Marine Aircraft Wing in Vietnam. (Yohi FSA)
His world was now runways, briefings, helmets, oxygen masks, jet fuel and the thunder of Phantom engines.
Da Nang was one of the busiest and most important American airfields in South Vietnam.
Marine aviation operated constantly in support of forces on the ground and other missions throughout the theater.
John was part of that enormous aerial effort.
But on May 25, 1966, his mission would end differently.
F-4B Phantom II 152268
The aircraft associated with John that day was:
F-4B PHANTOM II
Bureau Number 152268
Another Marine aviator was aboard:
1st Lieutenant Richard Howard Royer
Wyomissing, Pennsylvania
Royer was also a member of VMFA-115.
The two Marines took to the skies together. (Yohi FSA)
They would never come back.
The Hawk Run
The account preserved for Lieutenant Royer provides us with the clearest description of what happened.
Their aircraft was part of a four-aircraft flight returning from a mission.
Near Da Nang, the flight conducted what was described as a “Hawk run,” a low-altitude simulated attack associated with training for the Hawk missile battery defending Da Nang Air Base.
Visibility was poor.
Haze hung over the water.
At low altitude, there is little margin for error.
Then Phantom 152268 went into the sea off Da Nang. (The Virtual Wall)
There was no battlefield victory to celebrate.
No dramatic final radio message preserved for history.
There was simply an aircraft…
the sea…
and suddenly two Marines were gone.
Rescue Came Almost Immediately
Men responded.
According to the surviving account, divers were in the water within approximately two minutes of the crash.
Think about that.
Two minutes.
Someone saw what happened.
Someone reacted.
Someone went into the water hoping two fellow Marines might still be saved.
But despite that immediate response, they could not rescue the aviators. (The Virtual Wall)
John David Kramer was gone.
He was 26 years old.
The Marine Who Did Not Come Home
An alumni memorial specifically records that John’s body was not recovered. (Yohi FSA)
For a family, those words carry a particular weight.
There would be no final homecoming in the traditional sense.
No last opportunity to see their son.
No grave containing John’s individually identified remains where his parents could stand and say:
He’s home.
But America would eventually create places where his family, his fellow Marines and generations not yet born could find him.
Two Names Together
John Kramer and Richard Royer flew together on May 25, 1966.
And history kept them together.
Royer’s memorial record notes that he is buried with 2nd Lieutenant John David Kramer at Arlington National Cemetery. (The Virtual Wall)
There is something deeply moving in that.
Two Marine aviators.
One Phantom.
One final flight.
One loss.
And one shared memorial.
They left the earth together.
America remembered them together.
Maryland Remembers
John’s sacrifice did not disappear into history.
When The Washington Post published its list of Maryland servicemen whose names were inscribed on the newly completed Vietnam Veterans Memorial in 1982, there among the names was:
2LT John David Kramer • Marine Corps • Beltsville • May 25, 1966. (The Washington Post)
A son had left Maryland.
A Marine aviator had gone to Vietnam.
And Maryland remembered that he never returned.
Panel 7E • Line 109
Today another memorial carries John’s name.
On the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington:
JOHN D KRAMER
PANEL 7E • LINE 109
He shares that line with Richard Royer.
Two names.
Two Marines.
Two aviators.
One final flight.
The Wall tells us where to find John.
It is our responsibility to explain who he was.
More Than a Name on Granite
John David Kramer was not born a casualty of the Vietnam War.
He was born a son.
He became a Marine.
Then an officer.
Then an aviator.
And finally, he became one of the young Americans entrusted with one of the most formidable aircraft of his generation.
At twenty-six, he should have had decades ahead of him.
More flights.
Perhaps a career.
Perhaps marriage and children.
Perhaps grandchildren who would someday ask him:
“Grandpa, what was it like flying the Phantom?”
Those conversations never happened.
That is another dimension of sacrifice.
War doesn’t only take the life already lived.
It takes every unwritten chapter that should have followed.
Reflection
Some Marines carried rifles through the jungle.
Some crewed tanks and artillery.
John David Kramer climbed into an F-4 Phantom and carried the Eagle, Globe and Anchor into the Vietnamese sky.
On May 25, 1966, he took off as a Marine aviator.
He never came home.
But his final flight never became his final memory.
OUR VETERAN OF THE DAY
On September 3, 2026, The Micky Spano Radio Show proudly honors a son of Maryland:
2nd Lieutenant John David Kramer
United States Marine Corps
Marine Aviator
VMFA-115 “Silver Eagles”
MAG-11 • 1st Marine Aircraft Wing
Born: July 28, 1939
Home: Beltsville, Prince George’s County, Maryland
Aircraft: F-4B Phantom II, BuNo 152268
Lost: May 25, 1966
Off Da Nang, South Vietnam
Age: 26
Vietnam Veterans Memorial: Panel 7E • Line 109
John Kramer earned something few Americans ever have.
THE RIGHT TO CALL HIMSELF
A UNITED STATES MARINE AVIATOR.
And on his final flight, another Marine sat in that Phantom with him.
1st Lieutenant Richard Howard Royer.
Today, when we honor John, we remember Richard too.
Two Silver Eagles.
Two Marines.
One Phantom.
One final flight.
And two names America refused to forget.
JOHN DAVID KRAMER
Son of Maryland.
Officer of Marines.
Phantom aviator.
Forever a Silver Eagle.
Semper Fidelis, Lieutenant.