Patrick Edward Russell,CDR, USN (Ret)

patrick russell,cdr, usn (ret)
PATRICK EDWARD RUSSELL

CDR, USN (Ret.)





Formerly of McLean, Virginia, Patrick E. Russell passed away peacefully March 13, 2020 at the age of 101. Pat was born on January 18, 1919 in Minneapolis, MN and was educated at Los Angeles City College, the University of Minnesota, and Gonzaga University in Spokane, WA. While attending a presentation given by a Navy pilot at a press club in Spokane in 1940, Pat realized being a Navy pilot was what he wanted to do.

Pat completed flight training in January 1942 in Corpus Christi, TX, and served initially in WWII flying sea planes (OS2U Kingfishers) from light cruisers (USS Detroit) in the Aleutian Islands for two years. Late in 1942, Lieutenant (JG) Russell was flying anti-submarine missions in the North Pacific. One day while flying over the tiny village of Dutch Harbor, AK, he dropped a mail delivery sack onto the snow in the street near the Red Cross Station. The sack contained a note on a telegram to his fiancée’ in Minneapolis that read, “Adele, go to my mother’s and bring the church papers.” Pat looked behind his plane and saw that the snow in the street was 4 feet deep. He wondered whether the Red Cross would even find the sack. The Red Cross found it, telephoned Adele, and the next time Pat saw Adele was at his mother’s home in Spokane, WA, and the couple wed at Spokane’s Our Lady of Lourdes Cathedral on Feb. 24, 1943.

Later in the war Pat flew night torpedo bombers (TBM Avengers, Hellcats) off of carriers (USS Tulagi) in close air support of amphibious landings in the Philippines, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa, as part of Squadron VC-92.

After the war, Pat was assigned to NAS Anacostia (Washington, DC) in 1946 as a VIP pilot, flying SECNAV and SECDEF around, and even flying President Truman’s mail to the “Little White House” in Key West, FL. His next assignment was as a night fighter at NAS Barbers Point (HI). He was then assigned to NAS Pensacola, FL as a flight instructor. In 1952 he graduated from the US Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA, and was then deployed to aircraft carriers in the South China Sea during the Korean War while stationed at North Island, Coronado, CA. His next assignment was as the Airfield Operations Officer at NAS Glenview, IL from 1954 to 1957. Deployed again overseas from 1958 to 1961, he was the Executive Officer of Squadron VR-21 at NAS Atsugi, Japan, where he flew US pilots from the Philippines to their awaiting carriers off Saigon in support of the Vietnam War. Commander Russell retired from his last active duty tour in

1967 with the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations at the Pentagon.

After Naval retirement in 1967, he became an aircraft safety R&D program manager for the FAA, researching aircraft crash fires using JP-4 gel fuel, anti-hijacking measures, jet engine bird ingestion hazards, lightning hazards, advanced cockpit instrumentation, and participating in the SST (Supersonic Transport) program.

Retiring from the FAA in 1981, Pat volunteered with the American Red Cross and American Cancer Society. His favorite activities included military history research and presentations for the Falls Church Military History Forum, golf, hunting, fishing, competitive swimming, and cheering at his grandchildren’s sporting events.

He is predeceased by his beloved wife of 72 years in 2015, Adele Marie (nee) Bissonnette, also born in Minneapolis. He is survived by their six children, all born at military stations around the world in NAS Anacostia (Washington, DC), NAS Barbers Point (HI), NAS North Island, Coronado (CA), NAS Glenview (IL), NAS Atsugi (Japan) and Ft Belvoir (VA); Carol Marie Hartzell, Pat Russell (Sharon), Michele Russell Christopher, Tom Russell (Deneen), Mary Russell Clements (Chuck), Steve Russell (Cher). He also leaves 18 grandchildren, 22 great-grandchildren, and 2 great-great grandchildren.

There will be no visitation for CDR Russell because of COVID-19 restrictions. He will be buried with full military honors, and join his awaiting wife Adele in Section 60 of Arlington National Cemetery, at a later date.

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