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John P. McDermott went to Vietnam to fight a war on the water. On September 7, 1968, the danger came from inside his own...
09/08/2026

John P. McDermott went to Vietnam to fight a war on the water. On September 7, 1968, the danger came from inside his own boat.

McDermott was a Boatswain’s Mate Second Class serving aboard PCF-98 with Coastal Division 13, Task Force 115, U.S. Naval Forces Vietnam. The Swift Boats operated in a world of narrow waterways, coastal patrols, inspections, ambushes, and sudden contact where heavily armed little boats routinely went looking for trouble.

That day, PCF-98 was patrolling the waterways of An Xuyen Province when an 81mm mortar round became jammed in its firing tube. The round detonated aboard the boat, fatally wounding McDermott.

There was no enemy gunner behind it. No ambush waiting along the bank. Just one catastrophic malfunction aboard a combat boat in Vietnam.

His name was BM2 John P. McDermott, and September 7, 1968, was his last patrol.

09/08/2026

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