VADM James F. DORSEY Jr., USN (Ret)
Golden Eagle Emeritus
 

Gentlemen,
 
It is my sad duty to inform you that on Monday, 14 July 2025, Golden Eagle Emeritus VADM James F. “Yank” DORSEY, Jr., USN (Ret), made his Last Take Off at the White Oak Hospital in Silver Spring, MD, reuniting with his wife Jeanne who passed 11 March 2025. He had a number of family visitors the day prior, including one of his great-grandchildren. Yank was 91 years of age.
 
Yank was born in Baltimore, MD, in May 1934. His father worked at the Naval Gun Factory (Navy Yard) in Washington, DC, and with the arrival of World War II he managed to get housing on Capitol Hill, where Yank spent most of his formative years. He was a football player, graduated from Gonzaga High School, and then attended Wilson Teachers College, also located in Washington, where he continued to play football. He enlisted in the Navy as a reservist, serving four years prior to taking advantage of the NAVCAD program. He began his flight training in Pensacola, FL, with an active duty start date of 23 March 1955.
 
Yank earned his Wings of Gold on 25 October 1956. His first duty assignment immediately followed to the VF-61 Jolly Rogers, based at NAS Oceana, VA, and assigned to Carrier Air Wing Seven aboard USS Saratoga (CVA 60), flying the F3H-2M Demon. While there he made one deployment aboard Saratoga to the Norwegian Sea for NATO exercises. He met his future wife, Jeanne, a Virginia Beach school teacher, while in the squadron, and they married in 1958, beginning a sixty-six-year marriage. Additionally, in June 1957, President Eisenhower spent two days aboard Saratoga to observe Naval exercises, so Yank may have had the opportunity to meet the President. With the upcoming disestablishment of VF-61 in April 1959, Yank was transferred in February 1959 to the VF-41 Black Aces, also stationed in Oceana. Remaining with Carrier Air Wing Seven, they did workups for USS Independence (CVA 62) and deployed to the Mediterranean Sea in June 1960. Yank departed VF-41 near the end of deployment, reporting to the VF-101 Grim Reapers in February 1961, a fleet replacement squadron, as a squadron landing signal officer (LSO). This was the same time that VF-101 was introducing the F-4 Phantom II to the fleet, with Yank being one of those instructor pilots. In January 1963 he reported back to the fleet, to the VF-102 Diamondbacks, again at NAS Oceana, flying the F-4B, and served as the squadron LSO. He deployed with Carrier Air Wing Six aboard USS Enterprise (CVAN 65) from February–September 1963 and from February–October 1964. The first deployment was to the Mediterranean Sea, but the second was Operation Sea Orbit, when Enterprise and cruisers USS Long Beach and Bainbridge comprised the first nuclear-powered task force and sailed around the world.
 
Detaching from VF-102 at the end of that second deployment, Yank reported back to VF-101 in November 1964 once again serving as an LSO in the replacement squadron. After a year there he reported to the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA, as a student for the next two years. In December 1967 he reported to the VF-121 Pacemakers, NAS Miramar, CA, the fleet replacement squadron (RAG) for refresher training in the F-4. In July 1968 he joined Carrier Air Wing Two as the operations officer and LSO, where he flew the F-4J. During this tour he made two WestPac deployments to Vietnam aboard USS Ranger (CVA 61) from November 1968–May 1969 and November 1969–May 1970, with that tight turn between deployments being typical of the time frame. A bit of a respite for the crew was the Bob Hope show aboard Ranger in December 1969. Yank left Carrier Air Wing Two in July 1970 for a shore tour as XO of the RAG, VF-121, again at NAS Miramar, CA. In December 1971 he fleeted up to CO of  VF-121 before executing a short training pipeline en route to his fleet squadron XO/CO tour of the VF-21 Freelancers, reporting there in May 1972, and once again flying the F-4J. Deploying with Carrier Air Wing Two aboard USS Ranger, the ship/carrier air wing team departed in November 1972 for the Vietnam War, participating in the intense operational tempo of Operation Linebacker II. Returning home in May 1973, Yank assumed command of the Freelancers the following month. Deployed again in May 1974, Yank completed his successful command tour in July, departing mid-deployment.
 
Yank was fortunate enough to depart his fleet command tour and go directly to his bonus command tour, reporting back to VF-121 as the Commanding Officer, taking command in July 1974 for the next 20 months. After his change of command in March 1976, he spent several months in a training track before reporting to USS Midway (CV 41) in May 1976, as the Executive Officer, home ported in Yokosuka, Japan. During his tour Midway was twice awarded the Battle Efficiency “E” and the Ney, Flatley, and Golden Anchor awards.He followed this tour with another command tour, taking command of USS Caloosahatchee (AO 98) in April 1978, home ported in Norfolk, VA. However, he started this tour with an eight-month extended overhaul in Brooklyn, NY, before returning to the home port of Norfolk. The ship competed workups and began deployment in August 1979 to the North Atlantic, North Sea and Baltic Sea for NATO exercises. Finishing his tour in December 1979, he spent several months of training time before reporting to COMNAVAIRLANT in April 1980 to serve as Assistant Chief of Staff and Deputy Chief of Staff for readiness. This was a short tour since his next billet was Commanding Officer, USS America (CV 66), assuming command in February 1981, home ported in Norfolk, VA. America deployed in April 1981 for a seven-month deployment, including  three long line periods in the North Arabian Sea (Gonzo Station), but also port calls in Singapore and Perth, Australia, returning home in November 1981. She was also the first “super carrier” to transit the Suez Canal.
 
Yank completed his carrier command tour in August 1982 and reported to the Defense Communications Agency as Director Joint Program Office. In March 1984 he took command of Carrier Group Four, based in Norfolk, VA. In addition to working for COMNAVAIRLANT for primary readiness and training of flag staff, CARGRU 4 also served as Commander, Carrier Striking Force under Second Fleet’s NATO role of Striking Fleet Atlantic. Relinquishing command in August 1985, his next tour took him to HQ, EUCOM, Stuttgart, Germany, as Director of Operations for two years. Operation Eldorado Canyon, the air strikes on Libya in 1986, occurred during his watch. In September 1987 he joined OPNAV staff as the Assistant DCNO, Plans, Policy and Operations (OP-06B) for the next 15 months before taking command of Third Fleet in January 1989, based in Hawaii at Ford Island and aboard USS Coronado (LPD 11). While he completed his command tour in June 1991, he no doubt was deeply involved in planning the move of Third Fleet and Coronado to San Diego, executed in August 1991. Yank retired from active duty on 1 July 1991.
 
As is plainly obvious in the above paragraphs, Yank lived and breathed fighter aviation — and literally breathed JP-5 fumes in his four tours as an LSO, including a CAG LSO tour of two deployments to Vietnam. One can only guess at the number of passes he waved beside the runway and from the LSO platform, being that calm, collected voice needed to bring someone home from a night in the barrel. He accumulated 4,747 flight hours, over 4,200 in fighters, 931 carrier arrested landings, 226 combat missions over Vietnam on three deployments, and was awarded an individual Air Medal and twelve Strike/Flight Air Medals. He also completed seven command tours, including commanding VF-121 on two different occasions. Without question, he led from the front.
 
Retirement from active duty did not slow Yank down. He was self-employed as a consultant, working for the Center for Naval Analysis, the Raytheon Corporation, TRW Corporation, Betac Corporation, Grumman Aircraft Corporation, Norden Systems, and was an associate at Burdeshaw Associates. He also served three years as the co-chairman of SECNAV’s Retiree Council where he worked to maintain and enhance the rights and benefits of both active-duty and retired personnel. In parallel, he was also a member of the DoD Retiree Council tasked to assist in formulating retiree policy for the SECDEF. Keeping his calendar full, he was a member of numerous Naval associations (ANA, FRA, etc.) and as well as serving on the boards of two non-profit civic organizations.
 
Yank and Jeanne were married for 66 years, with Jeanne passing in March 2025. He is survived by his sons James F. III (Patricia), and CAPT Timothy W. (Diana), USN (Ret), as well as four grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. Services for Yank will be on 2 August 2025 at 1200, at the Chapel in the Riderwood Village Square Building, 3110 Gracefield Road, Silver Spring, MD. Interment will be at Arlington National Cemetery at a future date. That information will be provided by Special Notice when it is available.
 
He will be missed.
 
In sadness,
Marty CHANIK
Pilot