It is with extreme sadness that I announce to you that John Davis, skipper of PCF-19 passed away this afternoon at 4:40 P.M. Eastern Time in Niles Ohio. Nancy Davis called me a few minutes ago and gave me the news. John was not well having been in the hospital just a couple weeks ago. He was readmitted this week and his heart stopped. They revived him but he was in a coma and never came out. The cause of death is cardiac arrest caused by liver failure. His cancer on his neck had come back as well so his body was just giving out.
I want to say that John loved every Swiftie he came in contact with or spent time with at reunions. He carried a heavy burden of survivors guilt for his crew as most of you know. The good news is he read part of the book Swift Boat Down and had finally realized that the death of his crew was due to no fault of his own and being around fellow Swifties was the best medicine for him. Unfortunately, according to Nancy he had done a lot of damage to his body from drinking that he could never really recover completely from.
The funeral arrangements will be made tomorrow and the funeral will be held on Wednesday January 25th in Niles, Ohio. This is her e-mail address in case any of you want to send messages to her about John, I am certain she would love to hear from you. She told me to give it out but if you have a question she will not be able to answer until after the funeral. I will pass on the final arrangements to this forum as soon as she lets me know tomorrow. If any of you that live nearby can make it, I am sure John's family would appreciate seeing you'all.
Thank you all for listening, John Davis Ltjg USN is now with his crew "still on patrol"
Her e-mail is nld811@sbcglobal.net
Jim Steffes

Admiral Hoffmann asked that I forward the below info to you, so you could immediately post it to all Swift talk nets.

Joe
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DAVIS, John D., 63, of Niles; calling hours Tuesday from 4 to 8 p.m. at Robert P. McDermott Memorial Home and Wednesday from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. at Niles First Christian Church.

http://www.vindy.com/content/records/deaths/index.php Robert P. Mc Dermott

Robert P. Mc Dermott Funeral Home
614 Warren Ave.
Niles, OH 44446
Main Phone: 330-544-4883
Fax: 330-544-6401

First Christian Church
33 N Arlington Ave Niles, OH 44446
Main Phone: 330-652-5839
Fax: 330-652-5830