Harry Raw Hawk served as a Private 1st Class in the United States Marine Corps.

He was killed in the crash of a C-135A transport aircraft at Irvine, California on June 25, 1965.

Some of the details of the aircraft accident follow.


FRIDAY, JUNE 25, 1965, 1:46 A.M.

Operator/Flight Number: United States Air Force/Military

Location: Near Irvine, California

DETAILS OF PROBABLE CAUSE

The westbound military flight, utilizing a Boeing C-135A Stratolifter Transport (60-0373), originated at McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey, and was bound for the island of Okinawa, via El Toro Marine Corps Air Station in Santa Ana, Orange County, California, and Hickam Air Force Base, near Honolulu, Hawaii.

Carrying 72 U.S. Marine Corps members and manned by a crew of 12 Air Force servicemen, the aircraft, the military derivative of the 4-engine Boeing 707 jetliner, took off at 1:35 A.M. into thick fog and light drizzle from Runway 34 Right at El Toro. The aircraft had reached an altitude of about 1,000 feet when it failed to make a prescribed left turn and continued on its northward course, smashing into Loma Ridge while flying at an estimated 300 miles per hour. The jet impacted the 1,300-foot hill at a point approximately 150 feet below its crest and disintegrated into flames, scattering wreckage and bodies over a mile-wide portion of the 93,000-acre Irvine Ranch. All 84 persons aboard were killed.

Due to the heavy fog and low overcast, the crash site wasn't located by search and rescue members until over four hours after the plane went down. The exact cause of the crash remains undetermined.

This was the worst aviation disaster in Orange County history.

He was interred in the Gettysburg National Cemetery on July 6, 1965.