NAVAL AIR STATION PATUXENT RIVER, Maryland – In the course of Naval Air Station Patuxent River’s history, many groundbreaking aviators and engineers have passed through the gates and made history in the field of naval aviation. Some made the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty to their nation and craft. Driving on base you can see their names adorn streets on signs throughout the installation, a small honor to their service.
Some have that honor delayed. In the case of one Sailor, though, it was not denied.
In 2013, during environmental cleanup of a former dump site at NAS Patuxent River, a number of dog tags were found. Research was done to see what information could be found on the individuals named on the tags, with little found except for one.
“I decided to research one, which happened to be William Oscar Needham,” Mike Smolek, installation cultural resources officer at the time said. “I was able to find out a lot of information about him at the Naval Historical Center website.”
According to the website’s records, Needham enlisted in the Navy at age 18 and attended basic training at Hampton Roads Naval Training Station in Virginia. A string of advancements marked his career and by 1936, he was assigned to Pensacola NAS for naval pilot training. While there, he was promoted to Aviation Machinist’s Mate 1st Class before going on to become a Chief Petty Officer, Warrant Officer and, ultimately, reaching the rank of Lieutenant in 1943.
Needham continued service as an officer until his career was cut short when he was killed in a plane crash near Beltsville, Md., May 17, 1945, just a couple months shy of his 34th birthday.
The story of Needham’s dog tags and service were reported on in Pax River’s base newspaper in 2013, but not much had come of it until summer of 2026. That was when Needham’s daughter, Kathleen Foltyn, reached out to Pax River.
“Lt. Needham’s daughter, Ms. Kathleen Foltyn, was nine months old when her father died and currently lives in Hollywood, Maryland,” explained Jim Swift, Planning and Conservation Branch for NAS Patuxent River. “She came across the article and reached out to see if she could get her father’s dog tag.”
Working with current installation cultural resource officer Chris Bryan, Swift located the dog tag, still in Pax River’s possession, and worked with command leadership to get it in her hands.
“Since Ms. Foltyn is in her 80’s now, we all felt that this deserved a little more than mailing the dog tag and information to her or simply handing her an envelope,” added Swift.
Outgoing Pax River commanding officer Capt. Mark Zematis agreed. Working with Swift and Bryan, Zematis invited Foltyn and her husband as his personal guests to the Pax River change of command ceremony, where he personally presented the framed dog tags to her with his thanks for his service.
“Proving that lethal edge to our fleet is a mission that comes with profound gravity; completing that mission can come at a solemn cost,” said Zematis during his remarks during the change of command. “Most every street on Pax bears the name of an aviator or aircrewman who gave their life in an aviation mishap in the service to this nation. Our street signs are sacred memorials reminding us that test and evaluation is an inherently dangerous business, and that our current technological superiority was bought with the courage of those who never came home. These dog tags and the man who wore them tell the story of that sacrifice.”
Zematis told the crowd of Needham’s service, how he enlisted in the Navy and earned one of the rarest designations in the Navy’s history, that of an enlisted naval aviator, and provided a coincidental connection to the man being honored.
“His first operational squadron as a pilot was Patrol Squadron Five, the ‘Mad Foxes,’ said Zematis. “That squadron holds a personal meaning for me, as VP-5 was my first fleet squadron. It was in 1940 that Needham advanced to Chief Petty Officer, becoming one of our legendary ‘Flying Chiefs.’ He was the first pilot to qualify in the PBY-3, the mighty Catalina, the backbone of maritime reconnaissance during World War II, and was the type of aircraft that first spotted the Japanese Fleet at Midway, changing the course of the war in the Pacific.”
Zematis went on to describe Needham’s rise to commissioned officer, and his untimely passing while test flying an R-50 transport aircraft out of NAS Anacostia.
“Aviators like Lieutenant Needham charted our course,” added Zematis. “They laid the bedrock upon which the modern test flight community stands today. For over seventy years we believed that tragic crash in Beltsville was the final chapter in his earthly story.”
Zematis then explained Foltyn’s efforts to retrieve her father’s dog tags after recently coming across the 13-year-old article.
“Deeply moved, she reached out, asking if it might be possible to hold in her hands the dog tags worn by her father that she never had the chance to know. We’re honored to have Ms. Kathlyn Foltyn and her husband Lou in the audience with us today.”
Prior to presenting the dog tags framed with a photo of the type of aircraft her father flew, Zematis offered these words to Foltyn.
“Ms. Foltyn, your father gave everything to naval aviation, and his courage paved the way for generations of aviators who followed in his footsteps. His story did not end in 1945, and it didn’t end in the Pax River soil. Ma’am, we’d be honored to give you these dog tags on behalf of a grateful Navy and a grateful nation.”
