William E. Greer III

William E. (Bill) Greer III passed away on September 20, 2026 in Encinitas, California at the age of 94. He passed away peacefully with a smile on his face, saying how much he loved and admired his family. In addition to his family, the other great love of his life was the US Navy, and particularly the squadron he ultimately commanded, VF-11, the World Famous Red Rippers.

Bill was born in Pineville, Louisiana, to William E. Greer Jr. and Mary Charlotte (Gex) Greer on January 18, 1932. He graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1954. After flight training he was stationed in San Diego, California, where he met his wife and the light of his life, Patricia Hull. He married Patricia, daughter of Norman Sterling and Pauline (Kitt) in Tucson Arizona on April 13, 1957. They shared 55 happy years before her passing in 2012.

Bill’s Navy career spanned 26 years, until his retirement in 1980. He initially was based in San Diego, until 1969. During that time he furthered his studies at the Naval Post Graduate Program in Monterey (graduated June 1961) as well as obtained his Masters in Nuclear Physics at UC San Diego (June 1963). During the Vietnam War he was stationed on several aircraft carriers. He was deployed aboard the USS Ranger in the Gulf of Tonkin as part of Fighter Squadron 96 (VF-96, the Fighting Falcons). On April 9, 1965, while attempting to launch from the Ranger for a combat air patrol, his F-4B Phantom experienced a starboard engine failure during the catapult stroke, causing the aircraft to ditch into the sea. Both he and his Radar Intercept Officer successfully ejected and were safely rescued. Soon after this event, the USS Ranger experienced a serious machine room fire that forced it to return to the United States for repairs. Bill was then re-deployed to Vietnam aboard the USS Constellation, where he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for heroism and extraordinary achievement, serving on June 3, 1966 as flight leader during a successful attack against a suspected missile support and storage area located southwest of Haiphong in North Vietnam. Bill’s final aircraft carrier deployment was aboard the USS Forrestal, where he served as XO (1968-1969) and then CO (1969-1970) of VF-11, the “World Famous” Red Rippers. The Red Rippers family of fighter pilots remained his closest friends for the remainder of his life. When his tenure as CO of VF-11 ended, he remained aboard the Forrestal for two years, where he served as the Air Operations Officer and logged the ship's milestone 167,000th arrested landing. He subsequently returned to NAS Miramar. His last tour of duty was at CINCPACFLT in Honolulu, from 1976 to 1980.

After Bill retired from the US Navy, he and Patricia moved to Tucson, where he took an engineering job at Hughes Aircraft (now Raytheon). He retired from Hughes in 1994 after which he and Patricia enjoyed time with friends and traveling. Bill was an avid reader, a devoted football follower (the Dallas Cowboys), a power walker, and an expert at math and logic puzzles (the more challenging the better). He enjoyed classical music and Scottish bagpipes, as well as belting out Navy tunes. He loved his scotch (Talisker and Lagavulin), most any pie (especially lemon meringue and pecan) and anything dark chocolate. As mentioned, he was a very dedicated family man who visited his many relatives as often as he could. In the course of these family travels, several years after Patricia’s passing, he met and found love with a special lady friend, Marcia Bach, whose company he enjoyed until her passing earlier in 2026.

Bill is survived by daughters Helen Gex Greer of Tucson, AZ and Diana Greer Clark (husband Chip) of Rancho Santa Fe, CA, and granddaughters Ashley Clark of Rancho Santa Fe and Danielle Clark of Chicago. He is also survived by niece Gex Morgan, nephew Stewart Rivers, cousins Susie Rich Stockbauer, Debbie Walker and Mary Elizabeth Gex Bloom, and their many children. He was preceded in death by wife Patricia, youngest daughter Mary Charlotte, his parents and Sister Betty Zu Freeman and many other beloved family members.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation at https://navalaviationfoundation.org