Captain
Gregory M. Torres
d. 04 April 1978
Captain Gregory M Torres and 1st Lieutenant Ralph E. Bower III were killed when their F-4D crashed on a training mission. Both were charter members of the 480 TFS that was reactivated in 1976. He is buried in Fort Rosencrans National Cemetary in San Diego, CA.
From his close personal friend Susan Losey Williams:
“When Gregory Michael Torres was born on May 30, 1949, in San Diego, California, his father, Manuel, was 34 and his mother, Ellen, was 32. He had two older brothers, John and Peter. Greg had been and Eagle Scout and graduated from Mission Valley High School in San Diego in 1967, where he was on the swim and cross country track teams as well as the Drama Guild. He attended San Diego State University and graduated in 1972.
Greg enlisted in the United States Air Force on July 22, 1972. He was stationed at Homestead Air Force Base for navigator training for an F4 Phantom fighter jet until he was deployed to serve at Kunsan Air For Base in South Korea as an F-4 Fighter Navigator in April of 1974. He then served in the military on November 15, 1976, in Spangdahlem Air Force Base in Germany, when he was 27 years old as part of the 52nd Tactical Fighter Wing. The 52 TFW gained its third fighter squadron with the activation of the 480th Tactical Fighter Squadron on 15 November 1976. Greg was a charter member of the 480 TFS that was reactivated in 1976 and part of The Great Warhawk Nation, home of the greatest fighter squadron the World has ever known!” As part of the 52nd Tactical Fighter Wing, flying the F-4D, Greg’s unit was tasked with maintaining and operationally ready nuclear strike capability, conventional attack, interdiction, armed reconnaissance, and close air support missions. Captain Gregory M Torres and 1st Lieutenant Ralph E. Bower III, the pilot, were killed when their F-4D crashed on a training mission in Rheinfeld, Germany on April 4, 1978. Greg was buried at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery in San Diego, CA on April 11, 1978 at the age of 28. He was due to be transferred to Southern California two weeks after his death.”
