MICHAEL L. ORRISON, LT, USN

Michael Orrison '71

Date of birth: February 5, 1948

Date of death: June 6, 1976

Age: 28

Lucky Bag

From the 1971 Lucky Bag:

MICHAEL L. ORRISON

California

Hailing from the golden lands of California, Orrie hit the Academy with his blond locks and devastated the female population of the entire East coast. Mike showed us the "state," which some of us had confused with the "hot dog." It took Orbit a while to get his "Yessir's" and "Aye-Aye's" straight. After a rather incredible chain of events in 1/c year, Michael got the name "Crash," and the title was well-deserved. As a Naval aviator I'm sure Mike will be welcome in any cockpit in which he flies.

MICHAEL L. ORRISON

California

Hailing from the golden lands of California, Orrie hit the Academy with his blond locks and devastated the female population of the entire East coast. Mike showed us the "state," which some of us had confused with the "hot dog." It took Orbit a while to get his "Yessir's" and "Aye-Aye's" straight. After a rather incredible chain of events in 1/c year, Michael got the name "Crash," and the title was well-deserved. As a Naval aviator I'm sure Mike will be welcome in any cockpit in which he flies.

Shipmate

From the March 1977 issue of Shipmate:

Lt. Michael Leggett Orrison USN died on 6 June 1976 in the crash of his A-6E Intruder aircraft near Goldendale, Washington. His bombardier-navigator, Lt.(jg) Michael Donovan USN was also killed. Memorial services for the two officers were held at the Whidbey Island Naval Air Station on Wednesday, 16 June.
Lt. Orrison was born in Honolulu and received an at-large appointment to the Naval Academy. He was graduated with the Class of 1971 and proceeded to duty on board the destroyer Sommers before entering flight training in 1972. He received his wings in 1973, then reported to VA-128 for A-6 instruction. In October 1974 he reported to VA-95 and he had made a WestPac deployment with the squadron aboard Coral Sea.
He is survived by his parents, Charles Orrison and Docia Meisenheimer, both of Sherman Oaks, California.

Loss

From The Sacramento Bee on June 8, 1976:

Authorities said the plane was on a training flight with another AGE when it crashed in an uninhabited region about 16 miles north of Goldendale, Wash. The plane exploded and burned when it crashed in the wooded area. The other plane landed safely.
The planes were attached to Attack Squadron 95 at Whidbey Island Naval Air Station.
The cause of the crash was under Investigation.

Other Information

From researcher Kathy Franz:

Michael graduated from Birmingham High School at Van Nuys.
He received his appointment by Glenn Andrews, former congressman for Alabama’s fourth district. Michael’s grandparents lived in Anniston, Alabama.
His father was Lt. Col. Charles D. Orrison who was stationed in 1967 at the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Organization, El Segundo, Calif. He retired in 1975.

Michael has a memory marker in California. In addition to his parents and step parents, Michael was survived by his brother Charles D. Orrison, Jr. and sister Carter Docia Orrison.