
DATE: Friday, September 5, 1997             TAG: 9709050652

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY JACK DORSEY 

                                            LENGTH:   38 lines

THE PASSING OF A WARRIOR

Oceana F-14 Tomcat fighters flew the traditional ``missing man'' formation Thursday above a memorial service for retired Rear Adm. Roger W. Mehle.

The decorated aviator, who died Sunday at 81, earned two Distinguished Flying Crosses and became one of the Navy's first World War II ``aces'' during the Battle of Midway. A 1937 Naval Academy graduate, he ranked 13th in Navy ``kills'' by the war's end: The service credited him with shooting down 13 1/3 Japanese aircraft, probably shooting down two others, destroying 24 planes on the ground and sinking 300 tons of enemy shipping. After the war, he helped develop and introduce jet fighters into naval aviation.

Mehle commanded the carrier Saratoga in 1960-61 and Task Force 77 in 1967, and directed all Navy airstrikes against North Vietnam. He retired as a two-star rear admiral in 1970.

Five years ago on the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Midway, Mahle recalled how that campaign took on a pivotal role in a new art of air warfare at sea. ``When it was over, it wasn't a hilarious time by any means,'' he said. ``But knowing we had won made you feel a little bit better about the whole thing.'' ILLUSTRATION: Rear Admiral

Roger

William Mehle

1915-1997

[Color Photo]

Patricia Mehle, widow of the decorated aviator, receives comfort

during a flyover above Thursday's funeral home services in Virginia

Beach. With her are, from her left, son Lance R. Mehle, grandson

Roger W. Mehle II, and daughter-in-law Kathey A. Mehle.

BETH BERGMAN/The Virginian-Pilot