28 Feb 2005 Jack Schoeppner was my friend. We served in VF-21 together from mid-1968 until he was lost on March 9, 1970. Everyone knew him as "Chops". He was the kind of guy whose personality stood out in a crowd and I don't think there was another pilot in the air wing who didn't know who he was. I first saw him, probably in September 1967, at Chase Field in Beeville, Texas. He was in Advanced Jet training. He didn't know me then but I remembered him. The day he was lost I was also airborne and remember doing a radar search to see if I could spot his plane. As we would find out later, he and his RIO Rex Parcels were gone by then. In the summer of 1969 Chops and I took a backpacking trip together in the High Sierra of California. We covered about 49 miles around the Rae Lakes Loop in Kings Canyon National Park. We did some fishing and had a great time. I remember the pictures he took on that trip. He was a pretty darn good photographer. That was my first and last time backpacking with Chops. Since then I have returned to the Sierra to climb and hike many times and often I remember that special time I had with Chops. I miss you buddy. I will never forget. From a friend and shipmate, Don Christiansen dgc_61@san.rr.com

 

On 09 March 1969 a VF-21 F-4J (BuNo 155775) from Fighter Squadron 21 onboard the USS RANGER, crewed by LT Leonard John Schoeppner and LTJG Rex Lewis Parcels were assigned a photo reconnaissance escort mission in their F4J Phantom. Schoeppner was the pilot and Parcels served as the Radar Intercept Officer (RIO) on the flight. Schoeppner and Parcels launched at 1200 hours on that day. Their climbout and aerial refueling were normal. Because of low ceilings and poor visibility in the target area, the escort mission was cancelled. Schoeppner's aircraft was diverted to their secondary mission assignment as combat air patrol for the Task Force. The reassignment occurred about one hour after their takeoff. Schoeppner reported his position as overhead the RANGER in the Gulf of Tonkin at 17,000 feet. He was instructed to rendezvous with another squadron F4, but he failed to contact the newly assigned control agency for the required vector. Contact between aircraft and the ship's search radar was also lost at about 1330. A preliminary search was conducted, using aircraft already airborne in the vicinity of the carrier. With no success, the assistance of other assets was utilized. A thorough and detailed coverage of this large area was attested to by a variety of non-pertinent floating debris recovered by the SAR force, including objects as small as an old life jacket. A pilot from the USS HANCOCK reported that he had seen an F4-type aircraft in a dive at approximately 4,000 feet. All other pilots airborne at this time stated that they had not engaged in such a maneuver. The diving aircraft was thought to possibly be that of Schoeppner and Parcels. With weather conditions as they were, they may have inadvertently entered a maneuver, such as a dive, which carried them to an altitude too low to effect a recovery after their condition was realized. Their bodies were never recovered. From The Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, Ohio), Tuesday, 17 Mar 1970, Page 8 His mother Esther Elizabeth Schoeppner (1914-1988), Father Leonard Roman Schoeppner (1911-1989), and sister, Margaret A Schoeppner (1952-1959) are buried in Calvary Cemetery, Massillon, Stark County, Ohio. - - The Virtual Wall, 30 December 2019

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