DEAN A. PRICE, LT, USN
Dean Price '76
Lucky Bag
From the 1976 Lucky Bag:
Dean Anthony Price
Baltimore, Maryland
Dino was a product of Baltimore and he retained his local flavor as he and his guests scratched at their crabs each September. Manager of the 4th wing men's shop, he could often be found taking nocturnal inventory, restocking the shelves and having January clearance sales. He enjoyed the role as the great imposter, especially as a student, assuming such big roles as Moses, the Old Spice sailor and, at the pinnacle of his career, J.C., much to the chagrin of the company God squaders. Dino's only fear in life was sleeping because of a recurring nightmare of Gregory Peck at Navarone, but he showed great courage in attempting to overcome this fear by sleeping continuously, even in class. Like the driver in Harry Chapin's Taxi, he is taking off to find the stars.
Dean Anthony Price
Baltimore, Maryland
Dino was a product of Baltimore and he retained his local flavor as he and his guests scratched at their crabs each September. Manager of the 4th wing men's shop, he could often be found taking nocturnal inventory, restocking the shelves and having January clearance sales. He enjoyed the role as the great imposter, especially as a student, assuming such big roles as Moses, the Old Spice sailor and, at the pinnacle of his career, J.C., much to the chagrin of the company God squaders. Dino's only fear in life was sleeping because of a recurring nightmare of Gregory Peck at Navarone, but he showed great courage in attempting to overcome this fear by sleeping continuously, even in class. Like the driver in Harry Chapin's Taxi, he is taking off to find the stars.
Loss
From Chicago Tribune on June 16, 1980:
U.S. Navy helicopter carrying crewmen on a routine logistics mission plunged into the Caribbean Sea off the island of St. Croix Sunday. There was no sign of survivors, Coast Guard and Navy officials said.
The helicopter, an H-3 Sea King, belonged to Flight Composite Squadron No. 8 of the Roosevelt Roads Naval Station at the eastern tip of Puerto Rico. The Navy started an Investigation into the crash but no cause was immediately pinpointed.
The identities of the four crewmen and four passengers were withheld until their families could be notified.
COAST GUARD Lt. Cmdr. Mike Adams said a submarine crew saw the helicopter go down about 7:30 a.m. about 3 miles off St. Croix, and first reports indicated a rotor had separated In flight.
The submarine crew did not see anybody climb out of the helicopter.
Two Navy helicopters and a Coast Guard helicopter searched the area, and all three reported sighting "a lot of debris" but no sign of any survivors.
From the The Baltimore Sun on June 18, 1980:
A Navy officer from Baltimore was among eight persons killed here when the helicopter he was copilot in crashed into the Atlantic Ocean over the weekend, Navy officials said yesterday.
Lt. Dean Anthony Price, of Baltimore, was the copilot, and Lt. Donald Wayne Walseman, of Trenton, Mich., was the pilot of the downed copter. Two civilians, a petty officer and a Navy officer and his wife on leave were passengers on the craft.
The H3G Sea King helicopter went down Sunday morning 3 miles west of St. Croix, part of the U.S. Virgin Islands. The Navy is investigating the cause.
Other crash victims were identified as crewman Petty Officer 3d Class Joseph Ray Coops, of Cleveland; Petty Officer 3d Class Barbara Ann Bittner, of Williamsport, Pa., a passenger; Lt. Cmdr. William B. Godfrey and his wife, Virginia Kay, of Newport News, Va., flying "on a space-available basis"; H. P. Scheerer, 34, and Ervin Zayas, both of Puerto Rico, civilians, working for the Navy under contract.
Dean was mentioned in a post at the VC-8 Redtails page. Peacetime Casualties lists his date of death as June 15, 1980, which matches with the above news articles. MooseRoots says he was from Baltimore. The Baltimore Sun carried his Obituary on August 6, 1980.
Other Information
From the October 1980 issue of Shipmate:
Lt. Dean Anthony Price USN was killed in the crash of an H-3 twin-turbojet helicopter on a flight between St. Croix, Virgin Islands, and San Juan, Puerto Rico, on 15 June 1980. Four other Navy personnel, a Navy dependent, and two civilians were lost in the crash as well. Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated in memoriam at the Naval Academy Chapel on 14 July.
Born in Illinois, Lt. Price was appointed to the Naval Academy from the State of Maryland. A graduate of Cardinal Gibbons High School [class of 1972] in Baltimore, he was chosen as the scholar-athlete of that school in his senior year. Upon graduation from the Naval Academy with the Class of 1976 he requested flight training and upon being designated naval aviator, was assigned to Fleet Composite Squadron EIGHT in Puerto Rico.
Lt. Price was a member of the Naval Academy Alumni Association and his father, Maurice D. Price, is an employee of the Naval Academy police force. Mr. Price has requested that expressions of sympathy be in the form of contributions to the Alumni Association for the Lt. Dean Price Memorial Fund.
Lt. Price is survived by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Maurice D. Price of Baltimore MD; and a brother.
Dean's Find A Grave page is here.
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