1971

TO LISTEN TO GEORGE JONE'S 50,000 NAMES ON THE WALL

64 65 66 67 68 69 70   72 73

 

1971

01

22

E-6 SSG

Kenneth 

Lovelace

11F4S

KIA, helicopter crash

SVN; B-53, Instructor, Bien Hoa Prov., same Huey as Celano

1971

01

22

E-5 SGT

Hugh D.

Opperman

11C4S

KIA, helicopter crash

SVN; CCC, trainee at 1-0 school, Bien Hoa Prov., same Huey as Celano

1971

01

22

E-5 SGT

Frank A.

Celano

11B4S

KIA, helicopter crash

SVN; CCC, trainee at 1-0 school, Bien Hoa Prov.; 240 AHC #66-16356; hovering over downed LOH

22 Jan 71- Kenneth Lovelace, SSG E-6. USASF Instructor, Recon Tm Ldrs School, B-53, Long Than, Ops 38; Frank A. Celano, SGT E-5 and Hugh D. Opperman, SGT E-5, USASF, CCC, Kontum, Ops 35,  KIA during a  SOG Reconnaissance Team Leader’s Course. Although they were one-zero students, they were tasked to undertake a recover of a downed LOH.  During the attempted insertion by ladders, the men reached the bottom rung of the ladder, but the helicopter was still too high off the ground from them to get off the ladder.  In this percurious position on the ladder, they started taking fire and the helicopter crashed.   FOR DETAILS SEE-->LOVELACE/CELANO/OPPERMAN/SMITH

Kenneth Lovelace

Frank A. Celano

Hugh D. Opperman

 

 

 

1971

01

28

E-5 SGT

Arthur A.

Smith

11C4S

DNH, helicopter crash

SVN; CCN, trainee at 1-0 school, Bien Hoa Prov.

28 Jan 71- Arthur A. Smith, SGT E-5, USASF CCN, Da Nang, Ops 35 killed in helicopter crash (non hostile) Bien Hoa Province, South Vietnam (Trainee at 1-0 school). He is listed by the Virtual Vietnam Wall as being assigned to Co A, 5th SFGA.

 

Arthur A. Smith

POSTED ON 12.5.2016
 
POSTED BY: [email protected]

GROUND CASUALTY

SGT Arthur A. Smith was a Special Forces-qualified indirect fire infantryman assigned to A Company, 5th Special Forces Group. On January 28, 1971, SGT Smith was participating in a training mission in which team members practiced insertion by helicopter with ropes. During the training, Smith was injured after he lost his grip and fell approximately 30 feet to the ground. He was evacuated to a military medical facility where he succumbed to his injuries. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org]

29 Jan 71- David Ives Mixter, SGT E-5 of Darien, Conn, USASF, CCC, RT Colorado, Kontum, Ops 35 MIA-Body not recovered. While on a recon mission operating in Laos that made contact with an enemy force. The enemy used B-40 rocket propelled grenades against the team and one exploded directly in front of Mixer. He was checked by a team member, he was covered with blood and did not respond, thought to be dead and was left behind in the effort to break contact with the enemy. Due to heavy enemy activity his remains were left behind. NOTE: Mixer was SOG’s final MIA in Laos. As of 2023 his remains have not been reovered.

David Ives Mixter

POSTED ON 10.18.2014
 
POSTED BY: [email protected]

FINAL MISSION OF SGT DAVID I. MIXTER

On January 29, 1971, SGT David I. Mixter was part of a long range reconnaissance patrol (LRRP) on a mission in Attopeu Province, Laos. The unit was operating near what is known as the "Parrot's Beak" area of Cambodia, where Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam borders meet. At 1400 hours that day, Mixter's team made contact with an enemy force. B-40 rocket propelled grenades were fired at the team, one of which exploded directly in front of SGT Mixter. When he was checked by the team leader, SGT Mixter's chest was covered with blood, and he did not respond at all. SGT Mixter was thought to be dead, and had to be left behind in the rush to break contact with enemy troops. The remainder of the team was ultimately extracted. Searches the next day produced some of Mixter's possessions, but he had vanished. [Narrative taken from pownetwork.org]

Gerald Ernest Woods    Walter Edward Demsey, Jr,     ,  

1971

02

18

E-5 SGT

Allen R.

Lloyd

05C4S

KIA, BNR, helicopter shotdown

Laos; CCN, RT Intruder, YC481785, 5k S of A-102 A Shau, w/ CPT Watson, 101AVN #68-15255

1971

02

18

O-3 CPT

Ronald L.

Watson

31542

KIA, BNR, helicopter shotdown

Laos; CCN, RT Intruder, YC481785, 5k S of A-102 A Shau, w/ SGT Lloyd; 101AVN #68-15255

18 Feb 71- Ronald "DOC" Leonard Watson, CPT 0-3 of El Paso, TX; Allen "Baby Jesus"Richard Lloyd, SGT E-5 of St Charles, Minn; USASF, CCN, Da Nang; RT Intruder, Ops 35 and George Phillip Berg, WO-1 of Belford, NJ Air Craft Commander; Gregory Stephen Crandall, WO-1; Gerald Ernest Woods, WO- 1, Pilot; Walter Edward Demsey, Jr, SP/4, Crew Chief of Glendora, NJ; Robert Joseph Engen, SP/4 of Stockton, CA; Walter Edward Lewellen, SP/4 of New Albany, IN; Gary Lee Johnson, PFC E-3, Door Gunner of Malibu, A CO, 101ST AVN BN, 101ST AVN GROUP, 101ST ABN DIV, Comanchero 19, UH-1H #68-15255. MIA-Presumptive finding of death. With less than 2 weeks before the end of US-led teams in the A Shau in Laos . Upon insertion the team encountered the enemy and engaged them, killing two and the remainder dispersed. The team worked their way to an LZ and a Huey was making a STABO rig extraction. All 3 Americans hooked up and as the helicopter lifted off, it was hit. A door gunner cut one of the ropes loose and SSG Sammy Hernandez fell 30-45 feet before the helicopter went off a cliff with the other two Americans still on the ropes. The helicopter crashed and exploded Killing these 13 men. " On 19 Feb, a Special Forces recovery team was inserted at the crash site to search the area. Woods and Berg were found dead in their seats. Johnson's body was found in a tree. One leg of Demsey, the burned CE, was found in the cargo compartment. All remains were prepared for extraction, and the team left to establish a night defensive position. Enroute, the team found the remains of Lloyd and Watson, still on their rope slings, in the trees on the edge of a cliff. Because of the rugged terrain and approaching darkness, the rescue team leader decided to wait until morning to recover these two remains. However, the following morning, the search team came under intense fire, and te team leader requested an emergency extraction, and in so doing left all remains behind." Hernandez was rescued. (See 19 Feb for continued action). Note: See RT Intruder in the "individual memorial" section. {Filed by SSG Don "Sluggo" Murphy: . In January of 72 I was the covey rider at Phu Bai and Bob Woodham our chase medic asked me if I would look on the ridge in the South end of the Ashau for a ladder that was in the treetops. I did and it was still there. He was involved in the brightlight operation for Watson and Lloyd. He said he had put both bodies in bags there. The lines were still hooked to them and led to where the aircraft was crashed. He asked if I would check with MACSOG and mount a recovery mission for those two and the aircrew still in the crash site. I did but the request was denied.} [Doc (the Brain) Watson came to the front gate of CCN one day and asked for an interview. He was or had been in the Phoenix Program. He had a PHD from Stanford. I asked him why he wanted to be a 10. He said it was to help him understand human psychology," why would a person want to lead in such a program." We accepted him and sent him to 10 down at Long Thanh. He also told me that he was an orphan..-BG George Gaspard]  
AS OF 2023 Remains of Watson, Berg , Lloyd,, Johnson , Woods and Demsey Not Recovered

Ronald "DOC" Leonard Watson

Allen "Baby Jesus"Richard Lloyd

Gregory Stephen Crandall

George Phillip Berg

Gerald Ernest Woods

Walter Edward Demsey, Jr

R

Robert Joseph Engen

Walter Edward Lewellen

 

Gary Lee Johnson

 

 

The Missing Men of RT Intruder

MACV-SOG, or Military Assistance Command Vietnam Studies and Observation Group, was a joint service high command unconventional warfare task force engaged in highly classified operations throughout Southeast Asia. The 5 th Special Forces Group at Na Trang channeled personnel into MACV-SOG (though it was not a Special Forces group) through Special Operations Augmentations (SOA), which provided their "cover" while under secret orders to MACV-SOG. These teams, from the three Command and Control locations, CCN, CCC and CCS, performed deep penetration missions of strategic reconnaissance and interdiction. They were called, depending on the time frame, "Shining Brass" or "Prairie Fire" missions.

RT Intruder was one of the teams that performed these missions along the Ho Chi Minh Trail. These missions were most often performed in Laos, well beyond radio range and artillery support. In early 1971, three American Special Forces troopers manned RT Intruder, from Command and Control North (CCN) at Da Nang. The Team Leader, or One Zero, was CPT Ronald L. (Doc)Watson. The second in command, or One One, was SGT Allen R. (Baby Jesus) Lloyd and SGT Raymond L. (Robby) Robinson, was the One Two. Additionally, the team had ten Bru Montagnard tribesmen assigned. The team makeup changed, according to the needs of the mission, but most of the missions were conducted with all three Americans and five of the Bru tribesmen.

On 8 February 1971, the South Vietnamese government announced Lam Son 719, a large-scale offensive against enemy communications and supply lines in that part of Laos adjacent to the two northern-most provinces of South Vietnam along the Ho Chi Minh Trail. The mission was to interdict the flow of supplies from North Vietnam. The South Vietnamese Army (ARVN) would provide and command ground forces, while the US forces would provide airlift and supporting fire. Phase I, named Operation Dewey Canyon II, involved an armored attack by the US from Vandegrift Base Camp toward Khe Sanh, while the ARVN moved into position for the attack across the Laotian border. Phase II began with an ARVN helicopter assault and armored brigade thrust along Route 9 into Laos. American helicopters transported ARVN ground troops, while the US Air Force provided cover strikes around the landing zones.

Ten days later, on 18 February, two teams, RT Intruder and RT Python, were inserted into opposite sides of the infamous A Shau Valley in support of Lam Sam 719. RT Python would insert six or seven kilometers east of RT Intruder on an abandon fire base. On the second day another team was to reinforce RT Intruder at their location over looking the A Shau valley and bring in additional ammunition and a couple of 60-MM mortars. Their mission was to tie down NVA forces by calling in air strikes, gather intelligence and run reconnaissance missions towards the valley. The A Shau Valley had never been hotter. Captured documents revealed that the NVA had moved eleven counter-recon companies there to reinforce LZ watchers, trackers, and dogs, rear security units and infantry battalions. Additionally, they had two anti-aircraft artillery (AAA) battalions defending the valley, with one located at each end. The A Shau diversion was initially assigned to the 2000-man strong 1 st Brigade, 101 st Airborne Division. However, the specter of heavy US losses forced the planners to reconsider using the airborne brigade. The decision was then made to give the mission to MACV-SOG instead.

On that date, RT Intruder pulled their final mission together. The team was being considered for a High Altitude Low Opening (HALO) mission. For this reason, their performance was to be evaluated on this particular road watch/interdiction mission in the A Shau Valley. SFC Sammy Hernandez and SFC Charles Wesley (Wes) joined the team as "strap hangers". They would determine if the team got the nod for the HALO training and subsequent missions. Both of these men were already HALO qualified and needed team members that they could trust for these difficult missions. Sammy and Wes did not volunteer for this mission. A few days prior to the insert, Sammy and Wes were in the Recon Club having a drink or two. Sammy suggested that they walk down to the TOC and see what was going on. When they entered the S-2 section, they saw SGM Billy Waugh talking to Captain Watson and the AST. SGM Waugh turned and asked, "What are you two doing?" Sammy, with a smile on his face said, "Screwing off Sergeant Major." Billy replied, "Well, you two get your rucksacks and weapons. I'm sending you where you can't screw off. You two will be going with RT Intruder." As the two headed back to their hooch to secure their weapons and rucks, Wes cursed Sammy and said, "See, I told you we shouldn't go down to the TOC. I was in the A Shau Valley as a Platoon Sergeant with the 101 st back in 1968. All the bad guys in the world are in that valley."

The A Shau was probably the most NVA-infested area south of Hanoi! This valley was not a place for amateurs, and a road interdiction mission was doubly hazardous. However, RT Intruder was judged to be ready. The mission of road watch and interdiction required that they go in a little heavier than usual, so the addition of two Americans was welcomed. The team was inserted onto a small rocky clearing, west of the A Shau Valley and just over the Laotian border (YC473783). The Covey pilot for this insert was Captain Tom Yarborough flying an OV-10. This clearing did not offer much in the way of concealment. The enemy could spot the team from the ridge line and objective (hill 1528) that they were heading towards, and they did just that. RT Intruder waited for the choppers to leave and tried to attune their ears to the jungle noises. Threading their way north-east through the lush jungle growth, the team disappeared into the forest, just as they heard a series of shots to their left and right front. This was the NVA's method of signaling each other when they had a team spotted. Sammy was carrying an M-60 machine gun and a CAR-15. Behind Sammy was Wes, and every time a signal shot was fired by the NVA, Sammy would turn and give Wes a smile. Sammy was on America's first combat HALO drop and had also run recon with Project Delta. The M-60 that Sammy was carrying had the old style quick-change barrel lock, and every so often it would unlock and the barrel would fall out, making a nerve-racking noise. Sammy finally secured the quick-change barrel lock with a string. Traveling east, they soon crossed the Vietnamese border and arrived at the western-most ridge of the A Shau Valley.

The ridgeline was heavily canopied, and there, hidden by the overhanging boughs, safe from aerial observation, was the trail! This wasn't just a footpath. A large number of personnel could walk side by side on this veritable walkway! Also strung along side of the trail were 10 or 15 strands of communications wire. The team crossed the trail and set up security. They were not sure if they were on the correct hill to conduct the road watch, so CPT Watson radioed Covey and asked him to make a low level pass over the hill on which they were to set up. It turned out that they were around 200 to 300 meters south (YC480784) of the hill where they were supposed to set up. Not that it made much difference which hill they were on; RT Intruder ran into trouble right after Covey made his over-flight. Within minutes, the team made contact with a five-man NVA element that was coming towards them on the trail, and quickly killed them. Upon recommendation from Sammy and Wes, CPT Watson called for a STABO extraction, since they were compromised almost from the start. It was getting late and the clouds would roll in soon, making an extraction impossible. Wes and Robby had retrieved the rucksacks from the dead NVA that held several documents, a communist flag, medals and clothing. So it was decided that Robby would go out on the first bird with Wes and two of the Bru.

It took about thirty to forty minutes for the helicopters to arrive on station. The top of the ridgeline was now socked in with clouds and Watson had to vector the helicopters by sound. The helicopter pilots that supported SOG were among the best that Company A (The Comancheros), 101 st Aviation Battalion, had to offer. It took nerves of steel to hover a helicopter at tree top level in the clouds while moving forward a few feet at a time and trying to locate a SOG team that had just made contact. Just knowing that at any moment you were going to get shot out from under your rotor blades was enough to rattle anyone's nerves. Lt. Larry Hull flying an O-2 replaced Captain Yarborough for the extraction of the team.

The first of three helicopter piloted by WO Steve Diehl appeared out of the clouds, hovered over the team and dropped an aluminum ladder out one door. Robby, Wes and the two Bru snapped their rucksacks to the first rungs of the ladder, and climbed up and snap-linked themselves to it. The Huey struggled to lift them in the thin, mountain air, dragging the ladder through the trees. The pilot was having trouble keeping the Huey straight. He had run out of control pedal as the helicopter made a slow turn and twisted the ladder in the trees. It may have crashed if the four had not jumped off the ladder just seconds before the crew chief cut it from the chopper.

The team landed on top of the five NVA that they had just killed. Wesley's rucksack was still snapped to the ladder as they ran back to the team's perimeter. The next helicopter in line hovered over the team and dropped our STABO ropes. Wes, Robby and the two Bru snapped their harnesses into the STABO rope and gave thumbs up to the crew chief. In seconds, they were catapulted up through the trees. The pilot pulled pitch, pushed the cyclic forward, and nosed the helicopter towards the valley and down the side of the mountain in order to gain the needed air speed. The four were only a few feet above the treetops as the pilot gained air speed and flew up through the clouds. For the next twenty minutes they were in excruciating pain from the leg straps. Robby had the extra weight of the NVA's rucksack and one of the Bru had managed to stand on Wesley's shoulders while he adjusted the straps between his own legs. Wes promptly shoved the Bru's feet off his shoulders. Because the first bird had so much trouble, only three Montagnards were extracted on the next lift. This left Watson, Lloyd and Hernandez for the last helicopter.

When they arrived at the 101 st ABN DIV firebase, instead of lowering them to the pad, the helicopter came in too low and slammed the team outside the perimeter, and then dragged them a few feet through the concertina wire. An engineer stake pierced Robby's leg. When the pilot realized what had happened, he immediately pulled the chopper up and set them back down on the pad. As the team was putting their STABO ropes into the helicopter, CWO George Berg got out and put his arms around Wes and said he was sorry for dragging them through the wire. He then said that he was going back to the area to pick up the rest of the team. Wesley, Robby and the two Bru got on the other two helicopter. On the way to MLT-1, the pilot turned and told Wesley that CWO Bergs helicopter crashed with Watson, Lloyd and Hernandez. Wesley told the pilot to fly back to the ex-fill point and see if they could locate the crash site with the help of Covey and rappel onto the site. By this time it was already dark and the pilot was ordered back to MLT-1. The helicopter that had the ladder cut by the crew chief evacuated Robby to the at hospital Phu Bai.. .

After being released later that night from the hospital, Robby learned the horrible truth. The last helicopter had crashed! Back in the launch site at MLT-1, Wesley, the only American to make it out other than Robby, debriefed the OIC and NCOIC on the mission up to the extraction. By this time, the Covey rider, SFC Fernandez, had landed and came into the briefing room. He stated that he saw the main rotor blade come off as the helicopter tried to extract the rest of the team. The next morning, RT HABU, the on-call Bright Light, team was flown up from Da Nang. The team leader was SSG Danzer. On his team were SSG Cliff Newman, (also on the first combat HALO jump), SFC Jimmy Horton, SGT Lemuel McGlothren, and SSG James Woodham as the Medic. Cliff practically forced his way on this Bright Light team when he heard that his friend Sammy was in trouble. They both were like that. Wes thought he was going to return to Da Nang and was outside when SSG Danzer asked him what had happened. Wes was briefing Danzer on the mission and showing the infill LZ and the route to the extraction point on the map when SGM Waugh walked up and said, "Wes, you'll go back with RT HABU and lead them to the hill." Wes said, "Right, Sergeant Major, I think I've just volunteered again." Wes got another rucksack and put one of the six body bags, extra water and ammo in it. They would go in light, as they were not going to RON.

The team now had six Americans and six Montagnards. They loaded on two helicopters and headed west for the A Shau Valley and the Laotian border. As they flew high above the valley, the team could see what was left of the old A Shau Special Forces A camp and its airstrip. Turning to the southwest, the Hueys started final approach as they crossed over into Laos. Wesley, kneeling between the two pilots, pointed to the LZ. The lead helicopter turned to the northwest and started its final approach, with two snakes flying along side. The LZ was the same rocky area with very little growth. Once off the helicopters, the team started moving in the direction of RT Intruder's extraction point. The team had been moving about thirty minutes when Covey, Captain Yarborough came up on the radio and asked Danzer to count his people because someone was on the LZ popping an orange panel. Danzer informed Covey that all his team was accounted for. The Covey then made a low level pass over the LZ, and reported that the person looked like an American, that he was sending in the chase bird. The team later learned that it was Sammy. SGM Waugh was in the chase helicopter and came in over Sammy and threw him a STABO rope. Sammy looked up at Waugh in the door of the Huey and showed Waugh his middle finger. SGM Waugh understood what Sammy meant by that hand signal and had the pilot land. Sammy later said he was not riding another STABO rig after the last one.

The Bright Light team made it to the top of the hill and the trail without incident. Once there, they discovered a STABO rope that was frayed on the broken end, like it had been stretched before it broke. Wesley found what was left of his rucksack. It had been cut up and everything was missing. This included ten toe popper M-14 mines, three or four claymores, hand grenades, extra ammo and rations. A good piece of intelligence for the NVA was left on the ground next to Wesley's rucksack. It was an envelope from Sears with Wesley's name and unit on it. Wesley had received the letter just prior to inserting on the first day and without thinking, stuck the letter in the side pouch of his ruck. He had left the ruck snap-linked to the ladder when he jumped off. Sammy later said he had secured Wesley's rucksack to his own STABO rig. Sammy was then carrying an M-60 MG, CAR-15 and two rucksacks. The extra weight may have saved Sammy's life by causing the rope to break. Sammy said that when the rope broke that he was knocked unconscious when he crashed back to the ground. When he regained consciousness, he heard voices and could see flashlights not far from where he lay. Sammy crawled over the side of the hill as the NVA passed by him. He remained hidden until daylight and made his way back to the insert LZ.

SFC Jose Fernandez was flying right seat in an O-2A Skymaster as Covey rider. This was his second Covey mission. He had run recon for many years and he had had enough. Fernandez informed Danzer that he had the crash site spotted. It was only a short distance over the side of the hill in the direction of the A Shau Valley and he would direct the team to it. It was real hairy on the trail and everyone wanted off as quickly as possible. The team started moving in the direction that Covey had gave them. The thick undergrowth hampered their movement, and they had to snake their way through the wait-a-minute vines and deadfall. Wes used his signal mirror to let Covey know their location. The team made a couple of course corrections and found the crash site. Covey had already called for a CH-53 from NKP, Thailand, to extract the bodies and team. Then the unexpected happened. Covey was orbiting above the team and gathering information about the crash from Danzer. On his last pass over the team, the pilot was in a sharp left hand bank. The team could see the top of the wings. Seconds passed and then the team heard a crashing sound; the noise of the O-2A Skymaster's engines stopped. You would have had to been there to understand the feelings of the six Americans. The team continued putting the bodies of the helicopter crew into body bags. Both pilots were still strapped in their seats. One door gunner, SPC Gary Johnson, was hanging from a tree. Wes and Cliff lowered him down out of the tree. Meanwhile, McGlothren and Horton put the two pilots, CWO George Berg and WO Gerald Woods, in body bags. A single leg was also found, but not the rest of the body. It was assumed the body was that of SPC Walter Demsey, and that he was under the helicopter, which had caught fire when it crashed. The engine and transmission had completely melted and had started to flow like lava. The only recognizable part of the helicopter was the tail section and rotor mask, without its rotor blade.

Then another setback came; when a replacement Covey arrived on station, it informed Danzer that the CH-53 that was enroute to extract the team would be diverted to the crashed O-2A. The Air Force had declared a SAR emergency because it was their aircraft that went down. They would extract the team that had already rappelled onto the crash site.

CPT Fred "Lightning" (and that's another story) Wunderlich tells about his rescue mission this way: "We would rappel onto the crashed O-2A from a Huey and look for survivors. I picked only three men; my One One, SSG Kloecki, and two Montagnards from my team, and my team only. One enduring memory is giving the old 1-2-3 count down to rappel in on the wreck, and then only I went down until I started yelling at the rest to join the party." It turned out the pilot, 1LT James (Woodstock) Hull, and SFC Jose Fernandez, were dead. Ironically, just before leaving on this mission, Horton had given Fernandez his ten baht gold chain and Buddha for safe keeping until he returned. Lightning and Kloecki found the gold chain and Buddha lying in Fernandez's lap. "We were able to pull Fernandez from the wreckage, put him in a body bag, strap him to the jungle penetrator and hoist him up. The pilot could not be recovered because the engine was up against his chest. As the CH-53 hovered over us, one of my commandos started firing from the perimeter around the wreck site, we could not see the bad guys. A Parajumper from the CH-53 came down to look at the wreckage, as it was a SAR mission. It was found out many years later that he was not an Air Force Parajumper, but actually a SOG Recon man." By the name of ?

At this point, it was late and the weather was closing in fast. The Bright Light team knew they would not be extracted, so they placed the body bags on top of the burnt-out helicopter.

Danzer decided to look for a RON site and moved the team away from the crash. A short distance away, the team spotted two STABO ropes and followed them to a cliff. At the bottom of the twenty to thirty foot cliff lay CPT Watson and SGT Lloyd. They did not appear to be alive and Danzer decided to retrieve them the next morning. It was almost dark and the team followed the cliff for another twenty five to thirty meters and set up a perimeter with their backs to the cliff. Danzer, with the radio, was at the edge of the cliff, sending a spot report to Covey. McGlothren, Horton and Wesley were in the center. Newman and Woodham were up the hill about twenty meters with the Bru, putting out claymores and setting up the perimeter. Wesley and McGlothren pulled the body bags from their rucksacks and spread them on the ground. Wesley told Mc that he was going to use his for a sleeping bag because it was getting chilly. Mc said hell would freeze over before he would crawl in a body bag. The team had established an E&E route over the cliff in the event they were hit by the NVA during the night. The night was uneventful, so they thought. During the night, unknown to the team, the NVA did sneak in close.

At first light, Danzer was on the radio giving a spot repot to the Covey that was orbiting in the area. Across the valley, on an old, abandoned firebase was RT Python with Captain Jim Butler, SSG Les Chapman and SFC Brazer. They were inserted the same day as RT Intruder and had been surrounded by two hundred NVA from the first day and had been in constant contact. Stinger and Specter aircraft were used extensively during their three-day, two night ordeal. A CH-53 was on its way from NKP, Thailand, along with a flight of A1E-Skyradiers, to extract RT Python. Horton asked Wesley for a cigarette and Wes said, "As soon as we light one, we will get hit." Newman heard movement to his front and signaled Horton, then set off his claymore and emptied a magazine at the approaching NVA. At that moment, hand grenades rained down on the team and every claymore on the team's perimeter went off. A grenade landed between Mc and Horton and exploded with a bright yellow flash. Horton jumped up; his foot was nearly blown off and was left just dangling. The grenades continued to be thrown onto the team. Newman ran past Horton, grabbed him with one hand and pulled him over the cliff. Woodham and the rest of the Bru followed close behind. Wes followed Mc over. Danzer jumped off the cliff from where he had been standing while talking to Covey. Danzer tried to pull his rucksack and radio with him. All he ended up with at the base of the cliff was the handset. Horton was dragged by Mc and Woodham a short distance from the cliff.

Most of the Bru had moved over the second cliff, which were only five or six feet high. In between the two was an outcropping of large rocks, which provided some cover from the AK fire and grenades. Wesley saw movement from over the small cliff and thought the NVA had moved around behind them. He was ready to fire them up when he saw the faces of the team's Bru. He signaled for them to come up. They managed to climb back up and take up positions in the rocks. The NVA were still throwing grenades over the cliff, but not as many. Newman saw Danzer staring at his handset with nothing attached. That's when Cliff thought it prudent to call for some help. He got on his URC-10 survival radio and made contact with Covey, explaining the grave situation to him. Covey had already launched a set of slicks and Cobras to the area. In the mean time, CPT Butler, who had been monitoring everything over his radio, told Covey to send his extraction CH-53 to RT Habu and get them out first because his situation had calmed down some. Now the team was getting movement from the left and right, as well as from the top of the cliff. The team was now firing in these three directions with everything they had. Covey told Newman that the CH-53 was still about thirty to forty-five minutes out because they had to fly around the AAA sites, but the A1E's would be there shortly. Mc was laying on top of Horton trying to protect him from the grenades while Woodham worked on his ankle and foot.

A Huey showed up and while standing in the open, Newman directed him over to the team. They dropped a STABO to take Horton out, but when it went over the second cliff, Wes sent one of the Bru down to retrieve it so Horton could be snapped to it and extracted. Instead, the Bru snapped himself into the rig. At that same moment an RPG-7 was fired at the helicopter from the ridgeline and exploded, sending hot shrapnel into the helicopter, wounding WO Scott Optenberg, the pilot and the right door gunner. The pilot pulled away and took a surprised Bru with him. Wes was at the edge of the cliff waiting for the rope to be handed to him when the Bru went flying by, eyes as big as silver dollars. The helicopter took fifty hits and still flew.

Newman was still standing in the middle of the small clearing talking to Covey, who was in an OV-10, directing him to make gun runs on the ridge line from where the RPG fire came from. After a couple of gun runs on the ridge, Covey informed Newman that the A1E's were on station and that he needed smoke to mark the team's location. Newman threw a smoke, but instead of going straight up it followed the ground up and over the cliff. Covey could not get a positive mark on the team's location. So, he tried to talk the A1E's in on a gun run. The first A1E came in hot and low, releasing a string of CBU's the size of baseballs, in one side of the team's perimeter and out the other. Mc was wounded in the back along with some of the Bru. Wesley was knocked down by the concussion but got to his feet and pulled the pin on a smoke grenade, balanced it on the butt of his CAR-15, and held the weapon above his head by the barrel. The smoke went up through the trees. Covey and the A1E's now had a good fix on their position. During most of this ordeal, Newman was standing in the open talking to Covey and continued to do so, directing the air strikes and gun runs.

Two F4-C's showed up and dropped 500 pounds bombs on the east side of the team's position towards the valley. Covey informed Newman that the CH-53 was on final to their position, and to get Horton on the jungle penetrator first. The A1E's continued to make CBU and gun runs "danger close" around the CH-53 while the team was being extracted. In the CH-53, Mc was attending to Horton's grenade wound. Out the left window, the mini-gun gunner was spraying the top of the ridge where most of the enemy fire was coming from. Two of the Bru were at the rear of the helicopter firing M-79 CS grenades and an M-60 machine gun off the ramp. The CS was being whipped up by the rotor wash, so the pilots were wearing their oxygen masks.

Newman kept Woodham and Danzer until the last ride up. As they cleared the trees the winch released because of the weight and they fell back to the ground. Newman unhooked from the jungle penetrator and stayed on the ground by himself. Even when he was finally hoisted up, Newman continued to fire his weapon. On the way back to the hospital at Da Nang Air Base, the pilot, a full Colonel, asked Wesley where their NVA prisoner was. Wesley, understanding the situation said, "We had to kill him." Wes reached in his shirt pocket and pulled out the two NVA medals that he got off the dead NVA two days before and gave them to the Colonel. Wes told the Colonel that they belonged to the POW. A big smile came over the Colonel's face. Fourteen A1E Skyraiders made victory rolls past the Jolly Green CH-53 before heading back to Thailand.

The pilot must have called ahead to the hospital and told them he was bringing a seriously wounded Special Forces team member in and that they may look a little different from the average Army troops, and that they would have Montagnard tribesmen with them. As they landed at the hospital, a lot of AP's encircled the helipad. It looked like every doctor and nurse was also outside watching the big CH-53 land. It wasn't everyday that a helicopter of that size landed on that small pad.

As the rear ramp was lowered, hundreds of expended shell casings from the M-79 grenade launcher and M-60 machine gun fell onto the helipad. Some of the hospital personnel were collecting the expended shell casings as the American team members helped carry Jimmy Horton into the emergency room. The Montagnards followed and one of the ER personnel told McGlothren that he couldn't bring the Montagnards in. McGlothren told the nurse "If I was you, I would not try to stop them from coming in." Newman informed the staff that they were not to ask Jimmy Horton any questions about where he had been and what he had been doing. The team loaded back onto the CH-53 and one of the nurses was overheard saying, "Who are those guys?" Mc and the others would have their wounds treated at the CCN dispensary.

The team was flown back to the CCN compound for debriefing, where they found out that RT Python, commanded by CPT Jim Butler, was to be extracted by the same CH-53 that extracted RT Habu. Butler had told Covey to divert the CH-53 over to RT Habu and extract them first. Remember, RT Python was surrounded by hundreds of NVA and had been in continuous contact from the first day. CPT Jim Butler stayed awake for three days by taking green Hornets. SSG Les Chapman, the One-One of RT Python, had engaged an NVA with hand-to-hand combat while trying to save one of his Montagnards, who had been wounded and fell down the side of the hill into a ravine. The Montagnard died in that ravine. Chapman received the DSC for his actions, although not until years later. The next day, RT Habu learned that the CH-53 had taken 17 hits in the tail section.

SSG Les Chapman started flying as a Covey Rider after his mission with RT Python. He stated that after a week, the jungle reclaimed the crash site. As it could no longer be seen from the air.

A final quote that was written to Dave Demsey by Fred Wunderlich: "I want to express my earnest thanks to the likes of your brother and his comrades. The selfless and extraordinary brave men of the air assets who supported Special Operations. Every single SOG hand has a special place in their tearful heart for the sacrifice made by such hero's as a group lost so many in the rescue of so few. Even with the SOG image of rough and tough warriors, we know we were still standing on the shoulders of real men. I gladly take my part of the obligation to pay homage to the largely unsung groups who quite literally saved the likes of me and so many others. The few of us from SOG remaining today would certainly be a much smaller number without them. Perhaps such sentiments can give some closure where the actual physical word may cloak its mysteries in time as events and evidence are dust to dust"

On 9 March 2002 Cliff Newman, Charles Wesley and Lemuel McGlothren will return to Vietnam on invite from JTF-FA (Joint Task Force-Full Accounting). Their mission is to lead or show JTF-FA team members the crash site of the Bell UH-1H Iroquois. This return to Vietnam has been in the planning stages for a number of years. It is due in part to the efforts of Dave Demsey, the brother of Walter Demsey. Also traveling with the team will be Tanya S. Biank, the Staff Writer for the Fayetteville Observer.

The Lost Men of RT Intruder was written in part by the men who were actually there. Charles Wesley, Cliff Newman, Lemuel McGlothren, Sammy Hernandez, and Fred C. Wunderlich. With Comments from Les Chapman, Jim Butler, Billy Waugh, and permission from Robby Robinson to use part of his Web Site writing at: http://www.geocities.com/pentagon/quarters/9463. Other information came from the after action reports (AAR). And last but not least, the Pilot's. Tom Yarborough, Bob Clewell, Scott Optenberg, Steve Diehl.
THE END

MAIL
[email protected]

 

 

1971

02

19

E-7 SFC

William M.

Fernandez

11F4S

KIA, fixed wing shotdown

Laos; CCN, Covey Rider, trying to recover RT Intruder; aboard O-2A #68-11001, 55 mi West of Da Nang

19 Feb 71- James "Woodstock" Larry Hull, 2LT 0-1 of Lubbock, TX USAF, FAC Pilot, 20TH TAC AIR SPT SQDN, 504TH TAC AIR SPT GROUP OPS 32/75 and William "Jose" M. Fernandez, SFC E-7, USASF FAC Covey Rider, TF1AE- Da Nang (CCN), LT Hull last seen providing air support for a SOG recon team listed as MIA; SFC Fernandez KIA-RR. (Added by Fred Wunderlitch, "Lightning": This mission was a continuation of the action from 18 Feb and before. My team did the bright light on the 0-2 crash site. We were able to pull Jose out, but Woodstock was pinned between the engine and seat. "Your text is a little unclear if it implies that Hull might be MIA, but there is no doubt in my mind that he was KIA). "As always the devil is in the detail and the passage of time has dimmed but certainly not erased the memory of what was a rather hectic period. Frankly, everything went to shit that week on nearly all the operations. I saw Sammy go out with Doc and Lloyd, and Cliff come up when things got tough on that one while other missions were also in trouble. We all suited up as brightlight (rescue/reaction) teams. We were listening to the radios, always an agonizing trial where you feel beyond doing anything about it, and heard of the chopper and then later the covey crash. I was to go after the covey aircraft and picked only three others from my team; my 11 (assistant team leader in SOG jargon) Kloecki, who's status I do not know, and two of our local commandos (SCU). Knowing the terrain I planned to rappel in and we did so from a Huey to a thick forest of tall saplings on the hillside just in Lao. It seemed that the O-2 had gone in as a flat spin and cleared a hole down to the ground. The whole top and wing section was shredded down, exposing the cockpit. There were firefights going on in the East, seemingly about a kilometer away, and a lot of aircraft activity in the area. Both Jose and Woodstock were dead and the crash had broken nearly every bone in their bodies. I literally rolled up poor Jose's legs stuffing him into the body bag. Woodstock was wedged tight in the wreckage, especially as the custom was for the pilot to sit well forward. The O-2 gun sight had taken the top of his head off and he was crushed in the seat between the engine shoving back and the rear fuselage. We could not get him out. An HH-53 was sent to get us. One of my SCU started firing from the perimeter around the wreck site but we could not see the bad guys. The HH-53 Parajumper even came down to look with us at the wreck but there was no way to get Woodstock out and there was still a lot of action in the area. We were all hoisted up, along with Jose's body. Onboard, I asked the crew chief if we were going over the hill to get the other team, but he said there was another chopper. It turned out that there wasn't but, like I said, it was a less than agreeable day in a week of unpleasantness. I went back to Lao in 91/92 as part of an oil exploration seismic operation for explosive ordnance clearing... We were in the A/O (Area of Operations) as we used to call it, but I was never quite close enough to this particular area to try and check it out. As I've said, I believe that the general action for the RT Intruder brightlight was about a kilometer East of the covey crash site. Being fairly mountainous territory, I gather that the chopper healed over down the ridge and could be even further from the extraction site." (Frederick Wunderlich, Dec 99)  VISIT The Missing Men of RT Intruter  In May 2005, the last man Hull's remains were finally reoverd.  

 

 

James "Woodstock" Larry Hull

William "Jose" M. Fernandez

 

Added:  "I was a young E-5 and he an E-7 on his second tour) to me and probably my best friend during my tour in RVN from the time we left Nha Trang together for CCN. He was a covey rider with CCN not CCC. We shared a room at the Phu Bai launch site and it was my sad duty to gather his personal effects for return to his family." (Michael Heinricy)

      ADDED: Sgt Tomas Thompson was the individual who retried "Jose" Fernandez's body while Lt Wunderlich and the other team members provided cover.  Sgt Thompson was unable to get Woodstock's body out of the wreckage [Thomas Thompson] “In Col. Tom Yarborough's book, ‘DANANG DIARY’, he (Yarborough), and another Covey pilot at that time, took out Larry's downed O-2 with him still in it with willie pete to keep the NVA on site from getting Larry's remains.  The crew, Berg, Woods, Demsey and JOHNSON was my crew. I got a 9 day drop and they were lost on the 9th day after I DEROS’ed... Dave Demsey and I went back in June of 92, worked with the JRT, and found nothing. JOHNSON took my place as gunner. [R. Wayne Jones] 

 

      ADDED:  From the Friday, Oct. 13, 2006 HOUSTON CHRONICLE dateline Lubbock" From staff and wire reports":

"The remains of an airman killed during a mission near the Laos-Vietnam border 35 years ago will be returned  to his family, the military announced Thursday. U.S. Air Force 1st Lt. James L. Hull, of Lubbock, and another crew member were flying an 0-2A Skymaster when they crashed Feb. 19, 1971. Both men died. Hostile enemy action prevented the recovery of Hull's body, so he remained with the wreckage just inside Laos, according to the Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office. Teams from the U.S. Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command led several investigations to retrieve Hull's  remains between 1993 and 1997. But it wasn't until May 2006 that a joint U.S. and Laotian team excavated a  crash site and recovered human remains that proved to be Hull's. He will be buried with full military honors Nov. 13 at Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C."

"I was on the ground with RT intruder when I understood that a covey went down with Jose Fernandez. Yes it became a big mess and a lot more other SOG soldiers got hurt during that same time. Billy Waugh and Cliff Newman with the bright light team he took in ran into a lot of bad guys when they got in. Billy Waugh got me out the next day. I am glad he was flying that day because he recognized me and new the type of uniform I was wearing on that operation. I give him credit for saving my life or I will still be running in the jungles in Laos."
Strength and Honor Sammy (Hernandez, US Army Special Forces, Command and Control North)

Pilot Shot Down Over Laos to Be Buried - Sunday, November 12, 2006

By DON BABWIN, Associated Press Writer

RIVER FOREST, Ill. — Larry Hull knew exactly what he wanted. His dad was an Air Force master sergeant who worked on planes. And from the time Larry was a boy, he wanted to join the Air Force, like his dad. But Hull wanted to fly."Flying and flying in the Air Force went together for him, "said Tyra Manning, who married Hull in the spring of 1966, while the two were students at Texas Tech University. As soon as he finished school in 1968, Hull enlisted in the Air Force and began flying. He'd come home and say, 'You should have seen the clouds today, '"Manning recalled. Hull understood he'd wind up in Vietnam. In the summer of 1970, he went to war.Again, facing the dangers of combat, he made clear what he wanted. He told his wife he wished to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery.This Veterans Day weekend, that request will finally be granted, 35 years after he was shot down in Laos, where his body remained with the scorched wreckage of his plane until this year. A memorial service at Arlington on Monday will mark the end of a long journey for Manning and daughter Laura Hull. Larry Hull's fellow soldiers will be there, too, finally able to say goodbye to their fallen comrade. For one of those men, the service also is a chance to put away feelings that he somehow failed his friend when he couldn't bring his body home.___Manning knew her husband was flying over the Ho Chi Minh Trail and that the flights involved reconnaissance. What she didn't know was that he'd volunteered for the highly classified "Prairie Fire" unit, where he commanded the planes and helicopters that dropped Special Forces teams behind enemy lines and pulled fighters from the jungle to safety. Unlike some other reconnaissance flights that typically flew no lower than 1,500 feet, these pilots flew as low as 50 feet, sometimes so low that tree limbs scraped the bellies of their planes. "We had to find these guys in the jungle and we had to get right at the tree tops, "said Tom Yarborough, a retired Air Force colonel who trained Hull and flew with him until the day he died. On Feb. 19, 1971, Hull's unit was searching for the crew of an American helicopter that had been shot down. Yarborough had been flying above the soldiers who were on the ground fighting their way toward the wreckage, and in the afternoon it was Hull's turn. "There was a heavy machine gun up on the slope; it had fired a couple of times, "said Yarborough, who now works in Arlington, Va." I told Larry about that gun, said, 'He's up there and he's firing.' That was the gun that shot him down." The 25-year-old pilot died instantly, his body trapped behind the engine of his plane. A sergeant with him also died. When a recovery team arrived at the scene, they were able to pull the body of the other man from the wreckage, Yarborough recalled. But with the enemy closing in and Hull's body pinned inside the cockpit, there was only time to grab one of Hull's dog tags and leave. Flying over the site a few days later, Yarborough spotted enemy soldiers at the crash site. He could only imagine they were taking his friend's belongings. Angered, he led another attempt to recover Hull's body. But when he shot a smoke rocket to mark the site for other members of the team, he accidentally struck the plane. It burst into flames. With that, Yarborough had to do something unthinkable _ leave his comrade's body behind. "It's such an unwritten covenant among all of us that you would never go off and leave one of your buddies, either wounded or killed, if you could help it, "Yarborough said.___ Manning never knew the details of her husband's death. In fact, because the unit was so secret and much of the information about it remained classified long after the war ended, she never talked to or even knew about any of its members. "I communicated solely with representatives of the military and I did that regularly, "she said. There wasn't time to dwell on it. She had to raise a daughter who was not yet 2, go on with her education and find a job. "I was pretty focused, "she said. She moved from Texas to Kansas to finish school and begin her teaching career. There was a brief, second marriage. She later moved to Illinois, where she spent 12 years as superintendent of an elementary school district in the Chicago suburb of River Forest. In 1993, the Air Force called her with news that farmers just inside Laos, along the Vietnam border, had found some human bones and Hull's other dog tag. Tests using a DNA sample given by Hull's mother confirmed the identification. With the news, Manning contacted the man who had packed Hull's belongings and sent them to her 22 years earlier. "He said, 'I have the name of someone you should really talk to, '"she recalled. It was Yarborough. Yarborough knew Hull had a wife and daughter, but never could bring himself to contact them. "Because of the burning of that airplane, I had my own demons I was dealing with," he said. But he had written a book, "Da Nang Diary, "an account of his days with "Prairie Fire" that included the story of Hull's death. When he finally talked to Manning, he asked her to read the book before the two discussed her dead husband. "He told me that I might not ever want to speak to him after I read the book," said Manning. Manning, though, was comforted by the stories about how comrades teased her husband, named him Woodstock after the "Peanuts" comic strip character and put Woodstock decals on his helmet. And she was eager for the opportunity to visit the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. with her daughter and Yarborough. Meanwhile, Hull's remains stayed in Laos. After years of negotiations with the Laotian government, U.S. officials were allowed to go to the site in May and recover what they could. On Monday, the journey ends. "I'm not sure if I like the word 'closure. 'Laura and I have gone on with our lives, "Manning said. "But this is a kind of peace, of having the opportunity to have Larry's remains come home and to have it finished." And Yarborough hopes he can put to rest his guilt. "It ate at me, it still does," he said. "That's why I want to get him home and get him a hero's funeral, so that I can get rid of that myself."  Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

1971

04

10

E-5 SGT

Robert N.

Fiesler

11C4S

KIA

SVN; TF2AE, RT Arizona, Kontum Prov.; killed at the Dak To Launch Site by mortar round

10 Apr 71- Robert N. Fiesler, SGT E-5, USASF, TF2AE (CCC), Killed by mortar round at launch site, friendly fire/missadventur-DNH.  "He was killed at Dak To launch site by a rocket attack"/ filed by Sgt William F. Lewis  who was assigned to TR2AE

Robert N. Fiesler,

POSTED ON 11.2.2015
 
POSTED BY: [email protected]

GROUND CASUALTY

SGT Robert N. Fiesler served with Task Force 2 Advisory Element (TFAE), Recon Team Arizona, Command and Control Central (CCC). On April 10, 1971, he was killed at Dak To launch site by a mortar round. His death is listed as misadventure (friendly fire). [Taken from macvsog.cc and virtualwall.org]

 

 

1971

04

20

E-5 SGT

Kevin D.

Grogan

11C4S

KIA

SVN; TF2AE, Hatchet Force, Kontum Prov.

20 Apr 71- Kevin D. Grogan, SGT E-5, USASF, Co C TA2AE (CCC)-KIA - I believe that it was early April we were given the mission of inserting west of Plei Djerang, we were to perform a blocking maneuver for the Bac Dao (Black Panther's) a somewhat elite VN regiment who was doing some kind of a sweep in  the area. We were inserted on a ridge and we moved to the high ground.  I made the decision that as it was getting late in the day we would set up a perimeter, make sure everything was in order and we would dig in and wait until first light the next day before we moved off the hill.  That night all was quiet, we got up the next morning chowed down and while I was eating, one of the Yards came up and said he had heard VN speaking, indicating a direction.  I gave instructions to get everyone up and ready to move and I took my Mountain Yard radio carrier a VN Aspiring and a squad of Yards with Sgt Grogan to investigate. We hadn't moved very far when we came on to a trail running east and west.  I started following the trail and as I stepped out from behind a  tree there was an NVA setting on a stump of a downed tree about fifty feet away.  It was an instant shoot out,  unknown to me the fallen tree was across the top of a bunker.  I dove for a log on the opposite side of the trail sliding face first behind it.  The first NVA was dead and was partially blocking the firing port of the bunker.  Every time I would raise my head Charlie would open up with his RPD. It was just after one of his longer burst's another automatic weapon cut loose and I heard Kevin say Grommet I've been hit.  We neutralized the position and crawled over to where Kevin was at. He was lying on his back and he had received four rounds to the chest.  I check for a pulse and as I did so Kevin gave off a long sigh. I called Leghorn, told them we were in contact and that we had lost an American.  It wasn't very long and John Plaster was up.  We evacuated Kevin on a Mcguire rig and they moved us to an area well cleared, by airstrikes where they pulled us out. By Gerald Denison (Gerald was stationed at FOB 2, Kontum from Sep. 67 until the 5th of Oct 68.  The last half of that year he was flying with Covey and the first half he ran RECON.  His team was Ohio. This is mention this to explain where he was from 68 until 71.  He was shot down southeast of Attepeau in Loas while he was looking for a recon team.  He spent  the rest of 1968 and most of 69 in Valley Forge hospital.  Gerald was then assigned to 10th group and returned to Vietnam Mar of 1971.  This trip he was again assigned to FOB2 but it was TF2AE and was assigned as a platoon advisor for one of the exploitation companies.  His compound was the Mike force compound in down town Kontum.  Pappy Reed was the Senior enlisted, Walt Schumate was there, Kevin Grogran and another young  plus some old hands that had been around Vietnam for  multiple tours)

Kevin D. Grogan

 

1971

04

27

O-3 CPT

Frederick

Krupa

31542

MIA-PFD

SVN; TF2AE, Hatchet Force Cdr, YA624721 22k W of Sledgehammer, shot/fell from heli.

.27 Apr 71- Frederick  Krupa, CPT 0-3 of Scranton, PA USASF, Training Support Hqs, Tng Advisory Op, MIA-Presumptive finding of death. Version 1: As Krupa was about to insert his Special Commando Unit 2 miles from the Laotian border northwest of Plei Djereng, Vietnam, when the helicopter was about 3 feet from the ground it came under enemy fire. Krupa fell forward, the SCU Company A Commander Ayom grabbed his Krupap’s right shoulder but let go when his (Ayom) hand was struck by a bullet and Krupa fell out of the helicopter. Krupa was last seen lying next to a log sprawled out on his back, not moving or making a sound by crew chief SP/4 Melvin C. Lewis as the helicopter started its ascent. Version 2: Krupa was last seen as a passenger aboard the helicopter to insert troops onto a LZ. The helicopter was hit by enemy fire and Krupa was observed getting hit in the chest and fall from the aircraft. The helicopter then lifted off without realizing what had happened to Krupa. Upon learning of the incident, the pilot attempted to radio for assistance, but his radio had been hit. Photo of Fred Krupa & John Newman AS od 2023 Remains not recovered

                      

Posted 3/13/2016

Fred Krupa, "Mad Dog" as he referred to himself, was KIA. He was indeed shot out of the door of a helicopter by machine gun fire and I don't think his body was ever recovered. I know it wasn't on that mission. 

I was with RT Iowa in late '67-'68 and also rode Covey. In '71 was with RT California as 11 and later as 10 after Walker derosed. submitted by Donald Davidson, Payette, ID

                     

Frederick  Krupa

 

 

1971

04

28

E-8 MSG

Donald F.

West

11F5S

KIA, DOW

SVN; TF1AE, Quang Nam Prov., booby trap while on area recon near base.

28 Apr 71- Donald F. West. SGM E-9, USASF TF1AE (CCN)-KIA   Specific element within CCN/TF1AE not specified. Area recon near base of CCN/TFIAE.

 

POSTED ON 10.29.2015
 
POSTED BY: [email protected]

FINAL MISSION OF SMAJ DONALD F. WEST

, according to the MACV website. West was mortally wounded while on a combat operation when a booby trap detonated and he suffered multiple fragment wounds. He died a day later, April 28, 1971, in the 95th Evacuation Hospital. He received a posthumous promotion to the rank of Sergeant Major (SMAJ). His body was returned home to his widow and children in Fayetteville, NC. Funeral services were conducted at the John F. Kennedy Center Chapel, Fort Bragg. Burial followed with full military honors at LaFayette Memorial Park in Fayetteville. His widow died of cancer in 1987 and is buried beside him. [Taken from togetherweserved.com]

 

 

1971

04

29

E-6 SSG

Albert

McCoy  Jr.

11B4S

KIA, helicopter shotdown

SVN; TF1AE, RT Anaconda, ??where??, helicopter shootdown

29 Apr 71- Albert McCoy, Jr. SSG E-6, USASF, TF1AE (CCN)-KIA  was with Recon Company, team unknown NEED DETAIL OF HIS DEATH

Albert McCoy, Jr

 

1971

05

10

E-7 SFC

Lewis C.

Walton

96B40

MIA-PFD, recovered 19 Oct 2004

SVN; TF1AE, RT Asp, Quang Nam Prov., w/ Bingham & Luttrell, YC756573 7k NE of Ta Ko

1971

05

10

E-7 SFC

James Martin

Luttrell

11F4S

MIA-PFD, recovered in 2004

SVN; TF1AE, RT Asp, Quang Nam Prov., w/ Bingham & Walton, YC756573 7k NE of Ta Ko

1971

05

10

E-6 SSG

Klaus Y.

Bingham

12B4S

MIA-PFD, recovered in 2004

SVN; TF1AE, RT Asp, Quang Nam Prov., w/ Walton & Luttrell, YC756573 7k NE of Ta Ko

03 May 71- Klaus Y. Bingham, SSG E-6 of Wahiawa, Hawaiibnt BNR, James Martin Luttrell, SSG E-6 of Fayetteville, NC BNR; and Lewis Clark Walton, SSG E-6 of Cranston, RI USASF  RR . Recon Tm Asp, TF1AE (CCN), Da Nang, MIA- Presumptive finding of death.RT Asp was inserted 12 miles East of Laos in the A Shau Valley (Quang Nam Province) on 3 May without ground fire or radio transmission and was never seen heard from again.. On 4 May the area was searched by FAC without success. Two pilots reported seeing a mirror and panel signals on 5 May about 50 meters from the LZ and the FAC again searched the area and attempted to establish radio contact, the FAC saw two persons wearing dark green fatigues locating signal panels. Helicopters were launched but could not perform an extraction due to adverse weather. The FAC remained on station until 5 PM without making communication contact with the team. May 6 found the weather again prohibited an extraction attempt and May 7 found extraction or insertion of a search team an impossibility due to enemy fire. Adverse weather prevented insertion until 14 May. On May 14 the search team was inserted without success of locating RT Asp. (Per Cpt "Garry" George Robb, at the time of his departure as the 1-0, Rt Asp, in Nov 70, the team consisted of 3 ex-NVA and 3 Vietnames; however, the team had been shot up before the 3 May loss, thus, the exact ethnic make up of the team is unknown) {Filed By Sgt Don "Sluggo" Murphy regarding the attempted location and extraction of the 3 Americans: In mid April, 1971 two recon teams were joined to make one large raid force with a mission of hitting targets developed by the recon teams. We would launch out of MLT-1 at Phu Bai. This team was to remain at the launch site for 30 days. The two teams were Connecticut and Indtruder. SSG Andre Smith was one zero of Connecticut and SSG Eldon Bargewell had Intruder. The combined effort would field a total of 24 men. Connecticut was selected as the force's name with SSg Andree Smith as one zero and Eldon as one one. Connecticut was a Chinese Nung team and Intruder was Montagnard. RT Connecticut arrived at MLT-1 shortly before noon on 3 May 71, we checked in and went to lunch. Asp had been inserted that morning into the AO cleanly and without incident. The covey got a Team OK. (I do not know the name of the Covey Rider who inserted them) SFC Keith Kinkaid came into the mess hall and alerted us that he would be flying covey and left for his aircraft. Shortly after SSG Andree was called to the TOC and it was decided that we would go in (for RT Asp) instead of the bright light team since we had a much larger force. After a briefing on what we would do on the ground, we launched. Four slicks were loaded with six men each, we had two spare slicks on one of which was our chase medic SSG Bob Woodham. We had also four cobra gunships. I was in the lead slick with Andree Smith, Phun An Sang (Nung Interpreter), One other Nung, Sgt Mudhole Waters and one Montagnard. We would be inserting on Asp';s primary LZ. To approach the LZ we had to fly up a valley with high ridges on left and right. Just prior to short final we began taking effective fire from the ridges and the LZ. NVA were in the open firing at us and we all were returning fire. Andree aborted the mission. We took fire until we cleared the ridges passing over the LZ. I observed no bodies on the LZ but plenty of NVA. We returned to Danang since it was closer to inspect the slicks for battle damage. After refueling, we returned to Phu Bai to make another attempt this time on Asp's alternate LZ but bad weather precluded this. Now a large storm hit the area and no aircraft could be launched. Walton, Bingham, and Luttrell were officially listed as MIA. The weather finally cleared on the 11th. We would raid a farming area close to the area where Asp was lost with hopes of capturing a PW who would possibly enlighten us as to Asp's fate. The insert went in cleanly and we began recon by fire. After an hour of movement we stopped near the river by an animal fence. We had one heat casualty (Sgt Eaton) . Andree called for extract, to this point we had no contact with the enemy. As the birds came in and picked up the team. Sgt Waters, Myself and two indig (tailgunners) would cover fro the fence line. During the extract we could hear screaming, the cobras were firing on a large NVA force crossing the river coming at us. We laid down Car15 and 40mm fire on them as they approached. Andree fired his RPG 4 and killed 5 just as the four of us raced for the slick. On extract we were hit in the tailboom by a 23mm, which only got off one burst, the cobras got him. Cobras claimed 37 killed. In my opinion of what happened. The team hit the LZ but was ambushed during movement. What the Viets said is probably true they left the bodies where they lay) (Filed by BG Bargewell: first one of the covey riders saw 2 people on the LZ the day before we eventually went into on the last day and that they had put a red panel in the middle of the LZ--that's why we went in to that LZ. we figured it was put there to lure us in but we went anyway cause we had nothing else to go on. also months later there was a NVA captured-by who I cant remember- that supposedly said something to the effect that the team had walked into a small jungle village near their insert LZ and were ambushed and all US were killed. Frankly I don't know if this was ever verified but it was passed to us as Intel.- the most exciting thing that happened to me on that mission was when Andre, that crazy SOB, fired the RPG the first time--he turned 90 degrees quickly and fired and I was standing about 6 ft behind him at that point and I thought Id been hit from all the backblast--got my heart rate up a few mil anyway and blew me down on the ground--unhurt except for my ego from not paying attention to what he was up to---my yards thought it was funny anyway.) NOTE: THIS IS THE SECOND TIME ST/RT ASP WAS LOST. ON 28 MAR 68, ST ASP WAS LOST THE FIRST TIME.  . Case #1245) ON 3 MAY 1971 SSG JAMES M. LUTTRELL, SSG LEWIS C. WALTON, AND SSG KLAUS Y. BINGHAM, WERE MEMBERS OF A LONG RANGE RECONNAISSANCE PATROL (LRRP) WHICH WAS INSERTED INTO AN AREA AT GRID COORDINATES YC 756 573 IN SOUTH VIETNAM AND WERE NEVER HEARD FROM AGAIN. THE INSERTION OF THE PATROL WAS MADE WITHOUT GROUND FIRE OR RADIO TRANSMISSIONS. ON 4 MAY 1971 THE AREA WAS SEARCHED BY FORWARD AIR CONTROLLERS (FAC) WHO NEITHER SAW NOR HEARD ANYTHING FROM THE TEAM. LATER, ON 5 MAY, TWO PILOTS WHO WERE FLYING IN THIS AREA REPORTED SEEING MIRROR AND PANEL SIGNALS 50 METERS WEST OF THE LANDING ZONE FOR ABOUT 15 MINUTES. THE AREA WAS SEARCHED AGAIN FOR ABOUT THREE HOURS AND THE FAC ATTEMPTED TO CALL THE TEAM ON RADIO. AT 1404 HOURS, (ON MAY 5), THE FAC SAW TWO PEOPLE WEARING DARK GREEN FATIGUES LOCATING PANEL SIGNALS. HELICOPTERS WERE LAUNCHED AT 1500 HOURS THAT DAY WITH A RESCUE TEAM, BUT COULD NOT BE INSERTED BECAUSE OF BAD WEATHER. THE FAC STAYED ON STATION UNTIL 1700 HOURS, BUT NO COMMUNICATIONS WERE EVER ESTABLISHED. ON 6 MAY WEATHER AGAIN PROHIBITED SEARCH ATTEMPTS, AND ON 7 MAY HOSTILE FIRE IN THE AREA PREVENTED THE INSERTION OF THE RESCUE TEAM. POOR WEATHER PREVENTED THE INSERTION OF A SEARCH TEAM UNTIL 14 MAY, THE RESCUE TEAM WAS EXTRACTED THAT SAME DAY WITHOUT EVER HEAVING SEEN OR HEARD FROM THE PATROL.  During the General Membership Meeting at the SOA Reunion, SOAR XXVIII, Mr Dickie Hites, Special Advisor, to the CG of JPAC, Hawaii, presented a brief update on his trip to SE Asia. He mentioned the remains of Klaus Bigham, Jim Lutrell, and Lewis Walton of RT ASP from CCN, lost on 10 May 1971 had been found.

Klaus Y. Bingham

James Martin Luttrell

 

Lewis Clark Walton

   

OIF Vet Escorts Father's Remains Home from Vietnam May 09, 2007
BY Staff Sgt. Matthew Chlosta

WASHINGTON (Army News Service, May 9, 2007) - Sgt. 1st Class Lewis Clark Walton Jr. has completed two combat tours in Iraq. His father, Sgt. 1st Class Lewis Clark Walton Sr., only recently made it home from his second tour in Vietnam. Sgt. 1st Class Walton Jr. escorted his father's remains from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command on Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii, to his hometown of East Greenwich, R.I., for burial May 1. "This is very rare, that we have a son escort remains," said Steve Thompson, JPAC external relations officer....On May 3, 1971, then Staff Sgt. Lewis C. Walton Sr., was inserted with two fellow green beret Soldiers and five Vietnamese into a remote area of South Vietnam near Da Nang to conduct a long-range reconnaissance patrol. The patrol members were ambushed and died without burial. JPAC teams surveyed and excavated the site five times between 1993 to 2006. Not only did they find material evidence at the site that was consistent with U.S. Army infantry equipment, they discovered a set of airborne "jump wings" and a St. Christopher medallion. Sgt. 1st Class Walton Jr. said his father had soldered together a set of airborne wings and a St. Christopher medal to carry for good luck. Sgt. 1st Class Walton Sr. was identified using mitochondrial DNA by scientists at JPAC's Central Identification Lab...."To say thank you is an understatement," he said. "We've always had the hope that he'd be found somewhere, someday, and in good enough condition to bring home." Sgt. 1st Class Walton Jr. said his father inspired him to join the Army. "I knew I was going in the military," said the 40-year-old and 21-year Army veteran, said. "I come from a very patriotic family." "The last time I remember him I was two, other than pictures and videos," Sgt. 1st Class Walton Jr., said. "One picture I vividly remember was from Vietnam after his first tour, gear in one hand and me being held by the other. "To come full circle, obviously you feel a sense of relief or some closure. The main thing is you are bringing them home." Sgt. 1st Class Walter Jr. is an active-duty National Guard and Reserve Soldier with the 115th Military Police Company.

 

1971

05

18

O-2 1LT

Danny D.

Entrican

31542

MIA-PFD, BNR

SVN; TF1AE, RT Alaska, w/ Dehnke & Hollingsworth, YD036214 30k SE of A-101 new Lang Vei

1971

05

18

E-5 SP5

Gary L.

Hollingsworth

12B4S

KIA

SVN; TF1AE, RT Alaska, w/ Entrican & Denhke, YD036214 30k SE of A-101 new Lang Vei

1971

05

18

E-5 SGT

Dale W.

Dehnke

11B4S

KIA

SVN; TF1AE, RT Alaska, w/ Entrican & Hollingsworth, YD036214 30k SE of A-101 new Lang Vei

18 May 71- Danny Day Entrican, 1LT 0-2 of Brookhaven, Mass and Dale W Dehnke, SSG E-6, Gary L. Hollingsworth, SP/5, USASF, TF1AE (CCN), RT Alaska, 0ps32 Lt Entrican MIA-Presumptive finding of death. SSG Dehnke, SSG Hollingsworth and the scout was KIA-RR. (Dale Dehnke was killed on his 23rd birthday, he was my one zero of RT Crusader and was strap hanging with Alaska. Don Kelly)   Dale Allen Pearce, WO-1 of Mentor, OH; David Pecor Soyland, WO-1 of Rapid City, SD, and Two Door Gunners (Names and ranks unknown) UH-IH helicopter aircrew, Ops 32/75 C CO, 158TH AVN BN, 101 ABN DIV,. These men were lost when their helicopter was shot down while attempting an extraction of  recon team Alaska. AS OF 2023 Remains of Pearce, Soyoand and Ertrican not recovered.

Team Alaska was inserted in the Da Krong Valley on 15 May and the team was attacked by an enemy force three days later 1 mile from the Laos boarder. Two surviving commandos, Truong Mihn Long and interpreter Trong Th Ha reported they rolled downhill after a hostile search party detected them hiding in a bush, at which point Entrican was apparently wounded and yelled at them to move out. This action resulted in the separation of the team members. Lt Entrican was last seen wounded, but alive and attempting to evade the enemy. A search was initiated but all attempts were unsuccessful. One Special Commando Scout (name unknown) was killed while performing Body Recovery of the downed helicopter and for SSG Dehnke's remains. SSG Dehnke was originally assigned to CCS; however, when CCS was closed, he transferred to CCN July 70.

Danny Day Entrican

Dale W Dehnke

Gary L. Hollingsworth

  Dale Allen Pearce,

David Pecor Soyland

Dale Dehnke (in head band) & Danny Entrican (back facing camera)

Note: an email was received from a personal close friend of Dale's and some of the information he shared, I feel needs to be listed. "I never knew what happened to Dale until I found your site...Dale grew up in Santa Monica, CA and was a good student and a very good baseball player. His dad pushed him very hard to go on with baseball, and Dale got very frustrated and quit playing and joined the army. Dale was killed on his 23rd birthday and one year later, his father sat on Dale's grave and took his own life. It was so sad, because they were a great family and even now, his mom is unable to talk about Dale or his dad. I named my 1st son after Dale, and am very proud that I did. Never a day goes by that I don't think about him and wished he were still here." 

Gary's son sent this email, 03/29/00: "Thank You for a fantastic site. My dad Gary Lynn Hollingsworth was KIA on 18 MAY 71. I have been searching for information regarding the mission he was on when he was killed and never found *anything* until I discovered your site..."

Additional Information: Few more bits of info on the 18 MAY op. Have some vivid bits, as well as some pretty hazy recollections -- so beware of "holes". When Alaska called in that they were being hit, MSG Budrow (MLT #1 1SG) sent in 4 or 5 birds for the extraction. It was approx. 1600hrs -- getting late. I think Cheney was flying covey (Cheney, Budrow, and XXX? -- name slips my memory this moment -- flew covey for over 24 hours straight). Jim Woodham was flying Chase medic on Bird #2; I was Chase Medic on #4. As bird #1 went in to attempt the extraction, the green was very heavy and it was shot down in triple canopy jungle. Woodham took a round through his leg, and Covey called off the attempt to regroup and send in a Bright Light. It slips my mind which team that was, but the 1-0 was a 1LT (that ought to be easy to figure out which team -- very few LTs in CCN). I went as the medic. We were on the ground around 1800 -- dark already. We moved off the LZ and set up a perimeter to wait for first light. At first light, we started up a forested hill and ran into automatic fire. The Point was hit in the face and neck, and our 1-1 took fragments to his face. I saw that the 1-1's wounds didn't involve the eye and were mostly small bleeders, so I worked on the Point trying to get an airway started; the 1-1 patched himself up with the help of one of the Yards and the LT. We called for extraction, and a bird sent up from MLT 2 with their Chase Medic (Buddy Richmond) came in for the wounded. We also left. MSG Budrow then immediately got together another Bright Light (Rick Hendrix's team), and I went with them within about 2 hours. We located one American and one Yard -- both killed and stripped. As I recall, they were both shot in the temple. Rick identified the American because of a "Grade A Government Inspected" tattoo on the American's buttock (Hendrix will remember who this was, for sure). We then worked our way to the downed chopper and we found no bodies. I think that they might have been picked up by one of the first choppers on the first day -- but it's now hard to believe they didn't suffer some serious injuries in the crash, and since there was no place for the pickup chopper to land, it would have meant chopper crews leaving their aircraft and entering the woods for some distance -- not likely. I'd like to know what happened to them, as well as other details and corrections to my memory. by Steve Yevich.

I remember Gary, quite well. He was in my One Zero class. Gary had a tattoo on his butt that looked like a Gov't food stamp (the kind they used to stamp on meat). The tattoo said, "US Gov't inspected prime meat". The tattoo was used to ID his body because his head was mostly blown off. Gary was captured and assassinated. I think that MacGlothern was on the Bright Light that recovered him-By: Robby Robinson.

There is a web site dedicated to Daniel Day Entrician put together by a high school kid named Trevor. He has interviewed almost everyone who was involved with Danny, Dale, and Holly. Danny was not wounded during the initial attack. Dale was killed and Holly was severely wounded. Danny and the surviving team members refused to leave Holly. During the night the NVA came into their positions and one was actually shot as he pilfered a canteen of water from one of the dead  SCU. (This is right out of the AAR) Despite everyone telling Danny to E&E, Danny didn't leave the hilltop until first light the next morning. One of the surviving SCU said that as they ran, the NVA started shooting. He thought he heard Danny scream OHH! In Veith's book, BRIGHTLIGHT, he quotes an NVA soldier who describes an American in a cage in an area on the trail close in location. By: James E. Butler.

I was on stand-down having just returned from a mission and Pat Hemminger, who was recovering from wounds, and I went to Thailand for RR. Pat and I made our way to Bangkok and then from there north to where Pat's wife and family lived. I stayed the night and the next day Pat's sister-in-law escorted me on the train to Ubon where I met up with my father who was a Lt.Col in the Air Force and the Commander of an AC-130 Gun Ship. On the night of May 18th my father arranged it for me to fly with him and his crew. We departed after dark and were over the Trail having a whale of a time shooting up Ho's trucks, guns and anything else that would pop up. I don't remember the exact time but "Moonbeam" (the air borne C&C ship) called and requested that we divert and support a TIC (Troops in contact). As I remember at first the crew was disappointed because normally there was not much to see in the support of a TIC and they usually received to feed back as to how well they did. Upon arriving on the scene my dad was given the frequency of the ground commander. At that time we did not know it was a CCN recon team. When my dad tried to establish contact, I was standing behind him with an headset on, we could barely make out what was going on. My dad asked him to mark his perimeter but the ground commander said he was surrounded and couldn't do that. The ground commander finally requested that Spectre fire danger close. As was the procedure then, my dad asked him for his unit ID and initials. Only then did the light bulb go off and I explained to my dad what was probably going on. My dad told Gary that he had one of his own on board and that he understood. Gary acknowledged and Spectre began to fire when and where Gary wanted. It was very hard to understand Gary at the time. He was speaking low and soft. My dad had to keep asking him for strike reports and what he wanted them to do next. Keep firing and close the ring as tight as possible is what it boiled down to. Gary reported several times that Spectre was chopping the enemy to pieces and then would direct Spectre to keep firing. As I recall Gary did say that as far as he knew he was the only friendly left alive. As dawn approached and fuel was running low my dad told the engineer to quit reminding him that fuel was low and just tell him when he had absolutely the bare minimum to return home. We continued to fire support for Gary and as far as I know he was still alive when we finally left that morning. When the engineer called it my dad broke out of orbit and we headed for Ubon. The crew was chuted up and quite, I think begin low on fuel and saddened that we couldn't remain on station. We listened as long as we could to radio traffic from Gary's location and knew that the Bright Light had been launched and was in route. I don't know how long it was from the time we left till someone showed up. The Spectre gunships of those days are quite different from those of today. To the brave men who flew those gunships and supported Special ops teams, my hats off to them. Everytime the guns fired or the radio was keyed the recorders and cameras on board came on. The historic files of the 16th SOS should contain the after action reports, recordings and films from that mission. I know I saw the films and listen to the tapes at the after mission debriefing which were conducted after every mission. The Spectre crews and the fast movers who flew cover for them were in attendance. By: Bob Castillo RT Idaho, CCN  

Notes from The Virtual Wall

Recon Team ALASKA, consisting of three US special forces soldiers and three Nung troops, was inserted into the Da Krong Valley, Thua Thien Province, SVN, reportedly on 8 May 1971; the team leader was 1st Lt Danny D. Entrican. On 18 May, when located about a mile from the Laotian/SVN border, RT ALASKA was engaged by an NVA force and called for an emergency extraction.

Two Americans - SP5 Gary L. Hollingsworth and SSG Dale W. Dehnke - and one Nung were killed in the fighting; Entrican and the other two Nungs attempted to evade the NVA. Surviving commando Truong Minh Long and interpreter Truong To Ha stated that they rolled downhill after a hostile search party detected them hiding in the bush. Entrican, who apparently was wounded, yelled at them to move out and try to make the pickup alone. Meanwhile, the pick-up helicopter, a UH-1H Huey (tail number 67-17607, C Co, 158th Avn Bn) crewed by

hit by automatic weapons and RPG fire as it approached the pickup point, rolled over, impacted on its right side, and slid down a slope. Warrant Officer Pearce was killed in the crash, but the other three crewmen were able to exit the aircraft. Additional ground forces were inserted in an attempt to recover the survivors of both RT ALASKA and the downed Huey. SP5 Parker, SP4 Alcorn, and the two surviving Nungs were found alive. While Pearce's remains were identified the rescue party lacked the tools needed to free his body from the wreckage. The bodies of Hollingsworth, Dehnke, and the two Nungs were recovered. SP4 Alcorn reported that he saw a man, believed to be WO Soyland, running on the crest of a nearby ridge, but although search efforts continued until 27 May the searchers were unable to locate either 1LT Entrican or WO Soyland. Enemy documents dated May 1971 later captured mentioned an American captured in the area, but it was impossible to determine if the documents referred to Entrican or Soyland. Both men were carried as Missing in Action until the Secretary of the Army approved Presumptive Findings of Death (Soyland on 10 Apr 1978; Entrican on 6 Dec 1978).

The information above is summarized from several sources, including the POW Network site, the Vietnam Helicopter Pilots' Assn database, and the 1992 Senate Select Committee Report as contained on the Advocacy and Intelligence Index for POW/MIA site.

Qotes from The Virtual Wall

Reconnaissance Team ALASKA was inserted into the Da Krong Valley, Thua Thien Province, SVN, reportedly on 8 May 1971. The team consisted of

On 17 May, while about a mile from the Laotian/SVN border northwest of Khe Sanh, the team was engaged by a larger NVA force and called for an emergency extraction. SSG Dehnke, SP5 Hollingsworth, and one Nung were killed in the fighting; Entrican and the other two Nungs attempted to evade the NVA. Surviving commando Truong Minh Long and interpreter Truong To Ha stated that they rolled downhill after a hostile search party detected them hiding in the bush. Entrican, who apparently was wounded, yelled at them to move out and try to make the pickup alone.

C Company, 158th Aviation Battalion, had been tasked with extracting the recon team and launched an assault/extraction flight from Camp Evans. One of the assault helicopters involved, UH-1H tail number 67-17607, was crewed by

  • W1 David P. Soyland, aircraft commander and pilot;
  •  
  • W1 Dale A. Pearce, copilot;
  • SP5 Harold E. Parker, crew chief; and
  • SP4 Gary A. Alcorn, door gunner.

As gunship support for the extraction, Soyland was first into the area and encountered heavy enemy fire. As he banked the aircraft to the right, it was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade which severed the tail boom, causing an immediate crash. The aircraft impacted on its right side on a slope, sliding downhill until it stopped at the bottom of the slope. Warrant Officer Pearce was killed in the crash, but the other three crewmen were able to exit the aircraft.

Heavy enemy fire precluded insertion of ground forces until the next day, when additional ground forces were inserted in an attempt to recover the survivors of both RT ALASKA and the downed Huey. SP5 Parker, SP4 Alcorn, and the two surviving Nungs were found alive. While Pearce's remains were identified the rescue party lacked the tools needed to free his body from the wreckage. The bodies of Hollingsworth, Dehnke, and the Nung trooper were recovered. SP4 Alcorn reported that he saw a man, believed to be WO Soyland, running on the crest of a nearby ridge, but although search efforts continued until 27 May the searchers were unable to locate either 1LT Entrican or WO Soyland.

Entrican and Soyland both were classed as missing in action. Enemy documents dated May 1971 were later captured and mentioned an American captured in the area, but it was impossible to determine if the documents referred to Entrican or Soyland. Both men were carried as Missing in Action until the Secretary of the Army approved Presumptive Findings of Death (Soyland on 10 Apr 1978; Entrican on 6 Dec 1978).

 

1971

05

20

O-3 CPT

Scott H.

Newport

39301

KIA

SVN; TF3AE, Darlac Prov., S-2

20 May 71- Scott H. Newport, CPT 0-3, TF3AE (CCS), Ban Me Thout, Ops 35 Killed while participating in SOG activities , RR: However, he is listed on the Virtual Vietnam Memorial as being the a Tactical Intelligence Staff Officer (G2, S2) (Special Forces Qual) ASSIGNED TO TRNG ADV GRP, USARV which is in error. "...S-2 was killed in the ambush wile on a Med-Cap mission in Darlac Province. Former LT Dadek explains, 'The med cap, a term used at  the time was a mission to the local 'Yard Camp' to treat the ill by some of the CCS smedical staff from camp. The S-2 or a member of his  staff usually went along to get the lastest info about  activities in the local area from camps" Newport's SS citation explains the action.....'while he was commanding  a small security force engaged in supplying the friendly villagers with food and medicine. As his convoy entered Kmrong Pru Village, they were ambushed by a large enemy force firing B-40 rockets and automatic weapons . Immediately CPT Newport summoned air support and began directing return fire.   As the hostile force launched a full-scale attack.  CPT Newport ordered his men to withdraw to  a near by villiage. Disregarding his own safety, he covered their withdrawal eliminating several enemy soldiers before  he was mortally wounded  by enemy small arms fire...."  Extracted from page 677, Secret Green Beret Commandos in Cambodia by Fred Lindsey, USA (RET)

Scott H. Newport

      "I knew Scott Newport well.  He originally arrived at CCS as a 1LT in the late Fall of 1970.  If memory serves me, he was the Asst S-2 under Bill Tangney.  I believe Scott became the S-2 in early 1971 when Bill took command of the Northern Launch Site.  He and I were on a CCK Flight together in December 1970.  Upon return he returned to CCS, which was shortly to be renamed TF3AE when 5th Group returned stateside.  I went to Saigon in January 1971 to take command of the LB from Jack Keller.  Again, if my memory still serves me, Scotty had just been promoted to CPT only a month or two before he was killed.  Upon his death I was told that, as the S-2, he was making a visit to a local village to meet with some of the village elders.  He was accompanied by a platoon (I believe from Security Company).  I also seem to recall that he was the only American and they were traveling in a ducenhalf.  They were ambushed as they arrived at the village.  My recollection is that Scotty was the only casualty, and in the back of my mind I seem to recall the prevailing thought was that he was specifically targeted.  I remember the bad guys took his Rolex.  I've cc'd both Bill Tangney and Bill Dadek, who were both at CCS/TF3AE at the time and may be able to provide more detail.  Bill Holden was the Commander of the unit at the time of this incident, but I do not have his contact information.  I'll let you know if I recall any additional details.  VR" - Troy Gilley, Recon Co Cmdr,  CCS,

     "I can vouch for the fact that Capt. Scott Herbert Newport was serving with TF3AE when he was killed as a result of hostile action. Captain Newport was involved in the relocation of a local Montagnard village and he was in the lead vehicle (I believe that he was driver) on a small convoy entering a village that had been vacated. This was to be his last visit to the site to pick up the last remaining items for the move. I was among the first to respond to the site for an assessment. It appeared that he had entered into the kill zone of what I would term as a "textbook" ambush -- his jeep was hit in the grill by an RPG and Scott was able to exit the vehicle and take partial cover in a slight depression by a tree and returned fire. As an Infantry officer, I recall a certain lack of respect for Scott since he was an Intel officer -- after making an assessment of the scene, however, I gained a great deal of respect for Capt Newport because he was able to return fire and expended several magazines before he was fatally wounded -- he died in that slight depression from, as I recall, an extensive head wound. I had been an exploitation platoon leader (the same platoon MSG Jerry "Mad Dog" Shriver was with when he went missing) for nearly nine months before Capt. Newport was killed. At the time Newport died I was serving as an assist S-2 and my assigned area was the southern portion of Cambodia. I have forwarded this message to Captain David "TJ" Pollard. He was a fellow platoon leader who was serving as the unit S-4 at the time Newport died. Captain Pollard has a much better memory for details and I'm sure that he will correct me if I've made any mistakes . . . Thank You /s/ Lewis B Arnold" 

   Troy,,
     "I also knew Scott well,  He and I had the same taste in music and shared cassettes.  His room was two doors from mine. He was, as I remember, going with a Med visit to a local village to get intel from the village elders.  I seem to remember the medic was a US but I may be wrong.  I was at the launch site, Bill Tangney had remained at CCS that day to attend to some business/coordination.  I received a call at mid morning from Bill saying to send the guns back, ASAP.  I did and upon their return to the launch site learned that a US was killed, I confirmed later that it was Scott.  Everyone else had gotten away alive.  Scott had taken cover in a depression and was found with all his ammo fired and empty mags around his body.  They did take his rolex, car-15, and equipment.  It was a well set ambush, they seemed to have been after him!
    Bill Tangney was coordinating the response of the guns from CCS and may have more information and a better memory of the attack.
     Troy is correct about the timing for Scott arriving and when he became S2.  He was a Cpt when killed. Bill Dadek
 

 

1971

06

5

E-5 SGT

John R.

Jones

11B4S

MIA-PFD

SVN; TF1AE, Quang Tri Prov., Hickory Site, XD844455

05 Jun 71- John Robert Jones, SGT E-5, USASF, TF1AE (CCN), Training Advisory Op, Da Nang, KIA. Jones was performing defense duties of a remote radio relay site "Hickory Hill" ( Hill 950) located deep in enemy held territory at Khe Sanh when attacked by a battalion size enemy force. The site is normally defended by two Americans and about 40 Indigenous soldiers. However, there were 27 Americans and 67 SCU, which includes a squad from L Co, 75th Rangers defending the site this date. Evacuation started but due to adverse weather conditions, the evacuation was halted leaving SGT Jones and Jon Cavaiani, SSG E-6, with about 20 indigenous soldiers who fought on through the night SGT Jones was KIA- and his body not recovered and SSG Cavaiani was captured and untimely released in 1973. SSG Cavainai was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously for his action as he was originally thought to have been killed in action.

      ADDED: Reference Hickory Radio Relay Site. In October/November of 1969, when I was Opns Officer at CCN, the Marines pulled off of Hickory without notice. Our radio people had to relocate to Fuller Marine Base. However, our antennas were masked in that location. The next day we airlifted back into Hickory to resume our activities using our own companies/platoons as security. Hickory was in shambles as the Marines had blown up everything. The unfortunate part of this story is that we lost a recon team in Laos because of no radio contact. Each Tuesday I would go to Phu Bai and brief 24th Army Corps about significant activities in our AO. I informed the G2 and the Chief of Staff as usual. The reopening of Hickory called for a special briefing to Gen Mel Zais, Corps Commander. I had been his football coach in the 187th and we met frequently in the Pentagon. His words were " Speedy, I don't know if we can get your guys out if they are overrun." I responded by saying that we were radio blind without Hickory and that we would have to stay."  BG “Speedy” George Gaspard (then a Major), CCN  ANNOUNCEMENT: August 1, 2012-Sgt Jone's remains have been recovered, his family notified, awaiting instructions from family on internment details.

John Robert Jones

Before the attack. Apr/May71

Photo by Ralph Morgan Hickory after the attack on May 5 71

 

 

Interview of Jon Cavaiani that describes the events of the fall of Hickory: http://www.pritzkermilitary.org/whats_on/medal-honor/medal-honor-recipient-jon-cavaiani-interview/

 

Soldier Missing from Vietnam War Identified
The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of a serviceman, missing in action from the Vietnam War, have been identified and will be returned to his family for burial with full military honors.
Army Sgt. John R. Jones, of Louisville, Ky., will be buried Dec. 6, in Arlington National Cemetery. On June 4, 1971, Jones was part of a U.S. team working with indigenous commandos to defend a radio-relay base, known as Hickory Hill, in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam. When enemy forces attacked the site, Jones and another serviceman took up a defensive position in a nearby bunker. The following morning, Jones was reportedly killed by enemy fire and the other soldier was captured and held as a POW until 1973.
From 1993 to 2010, joint U.S.-Socialist Republic of Vietnam (S.R.V.) teams, led by the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC), conducted several investigations, surveyed the site and interviewed multiple witnesses, including those involved in the battle. During that time, analysts from JPAC and DPMO evaluated wartime records and eyewitness accounts to determine possible excavation sites. In 2011, another joint U.S.-S.R.V team located human remains in a bunker suspected to be the last known location of Jones.
For the identification of the remains, scientists from JPAC and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory (AFDIL) used circumstantial evidence and forensic identification tools, such as dental records and mitochondrial DNA that matched Jones' mother and brother.
Since 1973 more than 900 servicemen have been accounted for from the Vietnam War, and returned to their families for burial with military honors. The U.S. government continues to work closely with the governments of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia to recover all Americans lost in the conflict.
For additional information on the Defense Department's mission to account for missing Americans, visit the DPMO website at http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo or call 703-699-1169.

 

In a message dated 12/6/2012 6:32:54 P.M. Central Standard Time, [email protected] writes:
The funeral was well attended by SOG and many more- + guys who were there in the battle. Only a younger brother and 2 sisters still around but you could see they were deeply touched. Full honors with all the best US Army Honor Guard had to offer. Cdr 5th Group three star Charlie Cleveland and several other active duty command. George W "Sunny" Hewitt
In a message dated 12/6/2012 6:57:00 P.M. Central Standard Time, [email protected] writes:
Robert - FYI, I attended the interment of our comrade John Jones this morning. After 41 years it was nice nice to see a fallen hero returned
to his home to finally rest with the other fallen heroes in ANC. It was fair turnout. His brother and sister came in from Texas, Jon
Cavaiani (another great hero) was there. Also, in attendance was Scotty Crerae (an SF Legend). Charlie Cleveland (LTG, USASOC Commander) was
there to present the flag to his family. And, several other SOG vets from CCN & CCC, and CCS were in attendance to pay their respects to a fallen
comrade-in-arms. VR - Troy
 

In a message dated 1/2/2013 1:06:53 P.M. Central Standard Time, [email protected] writes:

G. Duane Whitman (ASA) who attended the Dec 6 ceremonies discovered this nice article. Thanks, Duane.
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Brother of MIA soldier killed in Vietnam, reflects on 2012 burial

Ed Todd | Posted: Wednesday, January 2, 2013 10:09 am

ODESSA — At long last, James Jones felt "peaceful and calm" after 40 grievous years longing to embrace his valiant brother just as he has done symbolically at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall.

His brother's name is etched there in stately granite among the names of 58,200 fallen American warriors in the Vietnam War. The peace that enveloped Jones in late 2012 was profoundly poignant at the Arlington National Cemetery four decades after his older brother, John Robert Jones, a 22-year-old Green Beret sergeant, had perished in combat on June 5, 1971. He had been missing in action (MIA) throughout those years. "I always looked up to my brother," Jones, 58, said at his Odessa office of the Ector County Youth Center where he is facility director. "He has been my hero, being in (the United States Army's) Special Forces, something to be proud of, the best of the best."

John Jones was posthumously awarded the Silver Star for valor (gallantry in combat), the Bronze Star with Oak Leaf Cluster for heroic action and the Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross. "He was my hero, the one I wanted to emulate, cool, laid-back, handsome young man," reflected Jones, who was 17 when his brother was declared MIA. "John was my big brother. We always looked up to him."

His brother, robust, stalwart and hearty at 5-foot-4 and 120 pounds, accomplished what James Jones, 5-foot-10 and athletically stoutly built, had envisioned for himself — honorably serving in the military. Their late father, Samuel Houston Jones, served in World War II as a member of the Navy Seabees in building aircraft landing fields on Pacific islands and later became a career Army soldier.

John Jones was born in February 1949 in Kentucky and grew up in El Paso after his father was transferred to Fort Bliss. James Jones' plans to serve in the military where thwarted when he suffered a serious high-school football injury that precluded military service but allowed him to serve in law enforcement.

His soldier-brother remained MIA until late in 2011 when two survivors of his outfit, platoon leader Jon Cavaiani and platoon radioman Larry Page, returned to the mountain-top post, site of Jones' last battle, with the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) to seek remains of Sgt. Jones. DNA markings confirmed his remains not found in previous searches and excavations.

Leading up to that two-day 1971 firefight in which he became MIA, Jones, an expert in light and heavy weaponry, and his platoon and the Montagnard commandos assigned to him were responsible for defending the top-secret "Explorer" radio-relay base atop Hickory Hill 950. The base was deep in enemy-held territory and overlooked the abandoned Khe Sanh Combat Base near the Demilitarized Zone.

The "Explorer" intercepted communist radio transmissions, including enemy troop movements, and was targeted by the enemy for destruction. Most of the platoon's soldiers had been evacuated by helicopter before the mountain-top post got "socked in," thereby leaving Jones, Cavaiani and Montagnard commandos to defend the "Explorer" post. Cavaiani, who survived, was taken prisoner and later was awarded the Medal of Honor for "conspicuous gallantry" in the June 4-5 firefight.

"John was a real live hero, most definitely the best of the best," James Jones said of his brother. "He loved being outdoors, loved what he was doing (in the military),"' including training the Montagnards (Vietnamese mountain dwellers) commando tactics and skills. "When he went to Vietnam, he was happy to be there. His whole attitude was he was a warrior. He wanted to serve his country."

Almost 42 years following his death, John Jones was accorded solemn rites at The Old Post Chapel and burial at Arlington National Cemetery across the Potomac River from the nation's capital. The imposing scene was of horseback soldiers attached to the celebrated Old Guard Caisson Platoon honoring the fallen warrior. Seven Old Guard soldiers fired three volleys each in honoring Jones. "It is a fitting home for my brother, (being) with the other warriors and heroes," said James Jones, who was accompanied by his wife, Kathy, and his sister, Sammie Jones Rider.

The historic cemetery bears the watchword "Where Valor Proudly Sleeps" taken from the 19th-century haunting poem "Bivouac of the Dead" by Theodore O'Hara.

Especially affecting James Jones was meeting his "brother's (Green Beret) friends, great people, nice people, the type of people that this country would be proud of and are proud of, every one of them."

Among the platoon's survivors at the ceremony were Larry Page, platoon radio operator, who gave his John Jones MIA bracelet to the brother; Jon Cavaiani, Roger Hill, Skip Holland and Horace Boner.

For the 40 years after his brother was declared MIA, James Jones had never given up hope that someday his hero-brother would return home. His faith in America's warrior ethos, expressed in the Soldier's Creed as "I will never leave a fallen comrade behind," remains ever hopeful. The JPAC estimated 88,000 Americans are MIA in the nation's wars since World War II and reportedly 1,200 of those are from the Vietnam War. JPAC's motto is "Until They Are Home."

"It is true," James Jones said gratefully, based on his brother's case, that America will "leave no one behind" and that its warriors "will never be forgotten."

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1971

06

21

E-7 SFC

Billy J.

Watson

11F4S

DNH, vehicle vs Claymore

SVN; TF3AE, Darlac Prov., returning from BMT; lightning set off a Claymore in 

ARVN compound

21 Jun 71-Billy J. Watson, SFC TF3AE, died as a result of a Claymore detonation caused by lightening.-Non Hostile. He was killed in a vehicle crash coming out of Ban Me Thuot City back to the CCS compound. As he passed and ARVN unit one of their Claymore mines went off and fatally hit him in the head.  Supposedly the Claymore explosion was due to  lighting.  According to SFC Zipper Allen, Watson worked at the Mobile Launch Site Noreth with him and CPT Tangney.  Extracted from page 681 Secret Green Beret Commando in Cambodia by LTC Col Fred S. Lindsey, USA (RET) 11/06/2012

Billy J. Watson,

POSTED ON 10.23.2015
 
POSTED BY: [email protected]

FINAL MISSION OF SFC BILLY J. WATSON

 

 

 

 

 

 

SFC Billy J. Watson was located in Ninh Thuan Province, South Vietnam at the time of his death on June 21, 1971. He was killed while returning from Ban Me Thuot in a jeep during an electrical storm. Lightning struck a Claymore landmine inside the jeep which detonated, causing shrapnel to enter SFC Watson's temple and exit the other side. He died from the injuries shortly after the incident. [Taken from togetherweserved.com and macvsog.cc]

 

 

1971

06

22

E-6 SSG

Madison A.

Strohlein

11C4S

MIA-PFD

SVN; TF1AE, RT New Jersey, YC487502 5.8k SW of Ta Ko, on 3rd HALO operation

22 Jun 71- Madison Alexander Strohlein, SGT E-5 of Philadelphia, PA, RT NEW JERSEY USASF TF1AE (CCN), Da Nang, Ops 35 MIA. Strohleim was inserted behind enemy lines via parachute (HALO) into the Ta Ko area during a night recon mission with SGM William "Billy" Waugh and SFC James O. Bath who was injured was on the jump. Five hours later he requested medical evacuation then after four more hours he reported enemy activity/movement all around him. A WACO City recovery team was inserted on 23 Jun could not locate SGT Strohlein, however, his weapon, radio, and map was found. Indications are Stroheim was captured, although the North Vietnamese denies any knowledge. see "SOG HALO EXTRACTION" in the Tales From SOG.  NOTE: NEWS FLASH Vietnam admitted Strohlein was captured alive "Madison Strohlein – Vietnam has now acknowledged that Sergeant Strohlein was captured alive on June 22, 1971 in Quang Nam Province.  His eventual fate has not yet been determined." Body not Recovered

Madison Alexander Strohlein,

 

      Additional Information:  There was NO HATCHET force inserted on Strohlein unless they snuck in on some other form of transport. Over the years I have had three people tell me that they were the one who found Strohlein’s 203, yada yada yada. Horsepockey!  RT habu and Dirty Dick Dougherty were the so called "hatchet force that went in after Strohlein. Lemuel McGlothren and Woody had rappelled into retrieve Tubby Bath, just before that. Dave dougherty and his team and the remainder of RT Habu were loaded up and we went in to try and get Strohlein before the weather closed in. Along with Dave was his 1-1 , and Guy Wagy, myself and the rest of RT habu. We inserted in the lower edge of the ridgeline that Tubby had been pulled out of.  The ridge climbed steeply up to the South west and we started moving  in a file looking in the trees and listening for any sign of Strohlein. The 1-1 from Dave 's team was a blond headed kid with a polish name and for the life of me I cant remember it. I found Strohlein’s Car15 with the 203 on the bottom. There was a 40mm He jammed in it and it had fallen  from above in the trees, Dave and I had been doing little sweeps because Covey had been telling us that we were right on top of him. We found where they had drug the chute out of the trees and there were drag marks going up the ridge. I believe we also found a strobe and a map not sure on that.  We started to move up in the direction of the  signs when we could smell US heating tablets burning like someone was cooking. Ti Ti Loi and Thua came up to me, they had been up  further and told me "Beucoup VC and pointed up the ridge. It was getting late and we decided to  move back towards the area we had been inserted. Weather closed in and we were forced to stay  in the area. We got down to where we were going to be extracted from we noted we had  movement from the area that we had just come from. Lots of it with sticks banging and metal on metal. Dave and I moved our teams to the west and slightly up form the extraction LZ looking for better ground if we had to make a fight of it. We found bomb trenches on a little knoll and that is where we  got into position. We put out claymores and waited it out. They did a line search across  the ridge and passed just above and just below us. They must have figured we would never use their bomb trenches, or somebody just screwed up. I remember the trenches because they had Foxfire or illuminecence in the bottoms so you could find them in the dark. it was like sitting in a neon light after it got dark . We were extracted without further problems except as few shots going out. It was our opinion that they had drug Strohlein out of the trees. The tree where we found his  Car and the Map and emergency radio was bullet scarred about fifteen feet up and there was brass at the bottom. It appeared from the signs that they had ripped a burst at him and forced him to drop his weapons, then pulled him and his chute out. The drag marks going uphill were what we  were following when we ran into all the movement. We could never figure out why they left the other equipment. The Car was at the base of the hill, the map about twenty meters further up then the radio and strobe light, like they were laying a trail. We suspected an ambush and when  Thua came back with tti ti Loi, and said there were lots of assholes above us that pretty much  Confirmed it.

      They knew we were still there after dark because they kept beating sticks and  banging on metal as they swept that ridge we were on. They would do that to keep their alignment and sometimes to see if they could spook us. The yards were all freaked out about being in the trenches, because of the luminescence. Most of us lay beside them rather than actually getting in. Pretty smart of the bad guys though , there was a high speed trail about fifty meters north of those bunkers, if they got caught at night they could find shelter in the dark. There were more luminescence marking the trees about head height, like inverted V's. Guy Wagy was the 1-1 of Daugherty's team, The blonde kid that had a polish name,was a strap hanger. He was a friend of Strohlein. He became quite Ditzy after we found the gun. Not all that uncommon, sort of but for the grace of God that could be me...thinking I guess.
We figured out pretty quick that the equipment was left to draw us uphill into an ambush, it was laid out all too neat, pointing in one direction. Nick
By: Nick Brokhausen

 

 

1971

06

26

E-8 MSG

Sebastian E.

Deluca

11F5S

DNH, intentional homicide

Laos; OPS 80

26 Jun 71- Sebastion E. Deluca, MSG E-8, SOG, CCS,1SG of 1st Exploitation CO; Ops 80, NCOIC-Officially Listed as a Death Non Hostile, There’s more to this incident, which indicates he was Killed in Action for his country and fellow Americans by a hostile force. Deluca’s knowledge regarding missing Americans combined with the bureaucracy decisions prevent effective recovery of the Americans, lead him to take a bold, heroic, but unwise initiative to act on his own that resulted in his death in Laos in an effort to secure the release of some Americansthe casualty is listed as a homicide. [Photo featured, page 104-105, Project Omega, Eye of The Beast, by James E. Acre]

Sebastion E. Deluca

 

1971

07

6

O-3 CPT

Donald G.

Carr

31542

MIA-PFD

Laos; TF1AE, MLT3, YB460352, aboard OV-10 # 67-14634, 15k west of Leghorn

06 Jul 71- Daniel W. Thomas, 1LT 0-2, Pilot, Covey, 23rd Tactical Aerial Surveillance Squadron, tail # 634, USAF Ops 32/75 BNR and Donald Gene "Butch" Carr, CPT 0-3 of San Antonio, TX, USASF, Special Mission Advisory Op, Deputy Cmdr MLT-3 (CCN), NKP, MIA-Presumptive finding of death RR. While performing an orientation flight in an OV-10 aircraft over Laos (15 miles inside Laos west of Ben Het) for newly assigned Cpt Carr made a radio contact reporting they were over their target area but due to adverse weather conditions, could not observe the ground. That was the last radio transmission and have not been heard from since. Search and rescue efforts were made without success .also Laos; TF1AE, MLT3, YB460352, aboard OV-10 # 67-14634, 15k west of Leghorn. Remains of both recovered.

Daniel W. Thomas

D

Donald Gene "Butch" Carr

POSTED ON 10.23.2015
 
POSTED BY: [email protected]

FINAL MISSION OF CAPT DONALD G. CARR AND DANIEL W. THOMAS

CAPT Daniel W. Thomas was a Nail Forward Air Controller assigned to the 23rd Tactical Air Support Squadron at Nakhon Phanom RTAFB Thailand. On July 6, 1971, he and CAPT Donald G. "Butch" Carr (U.S. Army) took off in OV-10A (#67-14634) for an orientation flight for CAPT Carr over southern Laos to study sites for cross border infiltration and intelligence operations 20 miles east of Muang Fandeng. At 1530 hours, Thomas radioed to the Army support facility that he was in his target area, but that he was unable to observe because of weather conditions. This was his last known radio contact. Thomas and Carr were due to depart the area at 1700 hours, and should have radioed then. A ground reconnaissance team later reported hearing an impact or explosion at 1600 hours on July 6 in their vicinity, but they did not report seeing the aircraft. Search efforts were conducted through July 10, with no results. A source reported that in early July 1971, he had seen an American POW in that area. The source learned from a guard that the POW was a pilot of an OV-10 that had been downed a week prior. This information was thought to possibly correlate to either Carr or Thomas. Carr and Thomas became two of nearly 600 Americans who disappeared in Laos during the Vietnam War. At the time of his loss, CAPT Thomas had served 118 days in combat. He was from Danbury, New Jersey. He was 33 and single when he was lost. [Taken from pownework.org and fac-assoc.org]

 

11 Jul 71- Team Pike Hill, (names unknown), Monkey Mountain FOB, Camp Black Rock, Da Nang, Ops 36, MIA. An all Cambodian soldier team was inserted into "Zone Alpha" in Cambodia and after making a scheduled radio contact on Jul 2nd, the entire team was never heard from again-

11 Jul thru 24 Aug 71- Three Special Commando scouts KIA in the PHU DUNG operational area.

05   5 Aug 71- Cinkosky,  David Edward, Cpt. 03, U.S. Army Aviation, O-1E pilot of the 219th Aviation Co. 4th Plt., CCS, MLS/N of Post Falls, The back seat was a Montanyard One Zero.  (names unknown) TF3AE (CCS), Ban Me Thuot, flying visual Recon over Cambodia came under intense enemy fire and crashed. KIA-RR.  (Added by: Dale Bennett-Snoopy - 3,  .  The crash site is shown in Plaster's  Photo book Page 122. None of the NVA that fired on Dave survived that day. Four 20th SOS Guns expended all of their ordinance on the target ( 40,000 rounds of mini-gun and 56 X 2.75 rockets.) The MIKE FAC then put in 3 sets  of Tac-Air. All structures were completely destroyed and the whole hill was lowered about 2 meters. Both bodies were recovered.   I was the high bird on this mission- DALE R. BENNETT, Snoopy - 3  SOA 910GL)

Cinkosky,  David Edward

POSTED ON 2.17.2016
 
POSTED BY: [email protected]

FINAL MISSION OF CAPT DAVID E. CINKOSKY

The following in an essay titled, "The Day We Lost Dave Cinkosky" was written by CWO Dale Bennet, a pilot with 4th Platoon, Bam Me Thout, March-October 1971: Dave was just back eight days from his home leave, after his first tour. The night before his final flight on August 5, 1971, Dave said let’s go to the O-club for a beer. I said OK but it was a little strange because Dave rarely drank and other than pilots, who had their own bars, there were only two other officers at BMT. The club was empty and we sat at the bar and had a couple of beers. During our talk I asked Dave why he had extended for another year. He said, “I think what we were doing is significant and we were saving lives in Viet Nam.” I hadn’t thought about it much but agreed with him and said they at least let us fight in Cambodia. The next afternoon Dave and I flew out to the launch site at Duc Lap. CAPT Tangney briefed us and gave us the grid quadrants of the area he wanted us to recon. He then introduced us to a Yard who he said was his best team leader. He said he would be taking a team in soon near our area today and would we take him along. If we had time would we fly over his area and also check some LZ’s. I don’t know why it was a request rather than an order other then we hadn’t done it before. We said sure and that he would be in Dave’s back seat as he was low bird today. Our rocket tubes were loaded with all HE (high explosive) today. We flew out to the area and Dave dropped to the deck to do the recon. Low level for us was less than 50 feet above whatever was solid. The high bird navigates and vectors the low bird around the area. No electronic navigational systems were available so we did everything with maps and a compass but our maps were very good. The maps were topographical with photo overlays and stamped Top Secret. The low bird would say something like “off my right wing…now, I have two bunkers and their estimated size is…” The high bird would right down the grid coordinates and take notes. We could always get a six digit grid coordinate which put it within ten meters and with an eight digit about 40% of the time which put us within one meter. In fact, that day we did spot two bunkers and less than 50 meters north of them was a very dense area that looked like camouflage but we couldn’t see in. We were out in the middle of nowhere; the bunkers must have a reason to be there. I then vectored Dave to the area the one zero wanted to look at which was less than two clicks away. We didn’t want to spend too much time in the area because we didn’t want to alert them to our interest in the area. A quick look showed some active trails but nothing else. The area had two good LZ’s and we couldn’t see any booby traps or firing positions around them. Done, we headed back with Dave staying low as we would look for a target to fire our rockets at (we normally fired our rockets on low level passes). No one liked to unload live rockets at Duc Lap and we weren’t allowed to have them in Darlac province. Mondolkiri city was on our way back and always had bad guys and buildings to shoot at. We decided to have a look to see if anything new was going on. I dropped back and vectored Dave in up wind near the air strip, then he’d be on his own. We tried to sneak up on them and once in a while it worked. I was above and just behind him now. Dave was at about 20 feet and made a turn down a slight slope and between a hill and a three story building. I then heard heavy ground fire and the nose of his aircraft pitched up sharply which is not normal. I called him “Snoopy 2, Snoopy 3…Snoopy 2, Snoopy 3, what’s happening?!” Now I started to see why everything was in slow motion. The nose dropped and it looked like he had pulled power and was in a slow glide to the right toward the hill. Then the right wing tip touched the ground, it cartwheeled next hitting the prop and it looked like it exploded, sending chards of Plexiglas and metal into a cloud. The wings had separated and the fuselage form the back window to the prop was missing! I was flying around staring at the crash site trying not to believe what I had just seen when I heard, “Snoopy, this is Mike __ on guard, is that one of your birds down?” The USAF forward air controller’s (FAC) call sign Mike flying 0-2 aircraft. They were always in the AO (area of operation) at 4000 to 5000 feet ready for something to happen. If nothing else was going on they would keep track of us. He said it looked like no one could have survived. I said he was strapped to his seat and could have been thrown free and be alive. I was thinking two things: no way was I going to say he was dead without seeing his body and I wouldn’t let him become MIA. Mike asked me what I wanted and I asked what I could have, he said I could have anything I wanted. I said I wanted the guns to hit them hard then a recovery team and when they were clear, Tactical Air Command to blow the shit out of anything still alive. I showed Mike the primary and secondary targets and turned the operation over to him. I climbed to about 3,000 feet and went into a slow orbit, out of the way but where I could see everything. I was low on fuel but planned to stay until I could see the recovery team go in. I leaned out my fuel mixture as much as I could and pulled back the throttle to just maintain altitude and waited. Four Green Hornet guns show up and the FAC gave them instructions including my location and cleared them hot on the target. They went in on the target in their normal pairs, firing their mini-guns and rockets (each gun ship carries 14 rockets). As the first pair rolls off target the second pair rolls in hot. They fly in an oval keeping this pattern of continues firing on the target. After a couple of passes trees and camouflage was blown away and I could see a large building about 40’x80’, some out structures, and some bunkers. I was surprised when the recover team showed up in the spare gun ship. I expected to see an H-34 Kingbee helicopter, not an American-crewed chopper. The guns continued to fire as the recovery team landed and CAPT Tangney jumped out with some Yards to recover the bodies. I told the FAC that I was going back by the southern route which had some areas that you could land on. I told the FAC that I was extremely low on fuel and may have to make an emergency landing. On the way back one tank went dry and the engine sputtered, I quickly changed tanks and the engine came back to life. I babied it back and made a straight in, downwind landing. I taxied to the refueling area and shut down. When I refueled I could see the bottom of the left tank, it was completely dry and the right tank had about ¼ inch in it. I walked down to where the recovery ship had landed and told them I wanted to see the body. They pointed to a body bay and asked if I wanted it opened. The body bag had a large amount of blood all over it. They explained that he had taken a round to the head just under the jaw and it had blown the top of his head off. I declined on opening the bag. The Yard one zero was most likely killed in the crash. I walked to the briefing tent and stopped just outside as I saw CAPT Tangney with his back to me talking on the radio. He was reporting that had just been killed! After he finished he turned around and froze, staring at me and me at him, no words spoken. He had turned a bit pale then quickly turned and was back on the radio changing the KIA. He debriefed me then I flew back to BMT. The confusion to CAPT Tangney over who was killed occurred because I think the bullet had misshaped Dave’s face and we didn’t always have name tags, so he assumed it was me because Dave had a lot more experience. When I shut down on our ramp the entire platoon including crew chiefs were waiting for me. When I got out it was very awkward as no one knew what to say. Our sergeant had a cold six pack of beer and he held one out and asked, “Would you like a beer Mr. Bennett?” I drank the beer straight down, I was so thirsty, and then realized my flight suit was soaking wet. The sergeant handed me another beer and everyone started talking at the same time. We went back to our bar which had air conditioning and I told everyone the above story. The next day CAPT Estill wanted me to fly the afternoon CCS mission and I replied that I going on R&R the next day and didn’t want to fly. He said I needed to get back in the saddle right away (he was from Texas). I said the saddle will be there when I get back, I just really need a break. The next morning I hopped on a Hughie (UH-1 helicopter) going to Plieku. We landed on a strip about a third of the way to Plieku. The pilot said that the weather was too bad to fly any farther north. I started a conversation with a first lieutenant and sergeant sitting in a jeep. They said they were going to Plieku and I asked for a ride. They said OK, and I jumped in the back. They handed me a steel pot, flak jacket and M-16, saying we can use another rifle. I asked if we were going to join a convoy and he said no, it’s just us, any problem with that? I said no, let’s go. That night I was playing poker in our company bar when our CO walked through and saw me and said, “Bennett, what the hell are you doing here?” I said, “I’m going on R&R.” He said, “We have been socked in for three days, how did you get here? Never mind, I don’t want to know,” and walked out. My first day back from R&R I flew the CCS mission and on the way back flew over the crash site. All the vegetation and structures were completely gone and the entire hill looked like it had been lowered about 2 meters. I found out later that the Mike FAC had expended three sets of TACAIR on the hill. I continued to fly the CCS missions until about two weeks before my DEROS on October 27, 1971. (By Dale Bennet) [Taken from 219headhunters.com]

 

 

1971

08

7

O-2 1LT

Loren D.

Hagen

31542

KIA  Medal of Honor

SVN; TF1AE, RT Kansas, Quang Tri Prov., w/ Bingham & Berg, XD910563 17k NNE of old Lang Vei

1971

08

7

E-6 SSG

Oran L.

Bingham

11B4S

KIA

SVN; TF1AE, RT Kansas, Quang Tri Prov., w/ Hagen & Berg, XD910563 17k NNE of old Lang Vei

1971

08

7

E-5 SGT

Bruce A.

Berg

11C4S

KIA, BNR

SVN; TF1AE, RT Kansas, Quang Tri Prov., w/ Hagen & Bingham, XD910563 17k NNE of old Lang Vei

07 Aug 71- Loren "Festus" D. Hagen, 1Lt 0-2, Medal of Honor Winner and Oran L. Bingham, SGT E-5 and Bruce A. Berg,  SGT E5 TF1AE (CCN), RT Kansas performing Recon deep in enemy held territory KIA-RR In a battle with odds of 107 to 1, RT Kansas of 14 commandos (six Americans and eight SCU) faced a formidable foe of an entire regiment, supported by a second regiment. One NVA regiment was able to overrun the Special Forces’ Kham Duc camp in 1968 and it only took one third of a regiment to completely overrun the Special forces camp at Lang Vei in one night. Here RT Kansas equipped with only what they had on their backs, CAR 15's, grenade launchers and one M-60 machine gun faced an onslaught greater than the men at the Alamo. Clearly, RT Kansas was an unwanted guest and the NVA intended to remove the team without delay. The team had taken up a position on a small hill, spent the night, receiving probing activities during the night, as dawn approached, trucks began to arrive filled with NVA. The onslaught came with a single, well placed RPG round, which smashed into Berg’s bunker exploding, collapsing it. This was the signal for the assault. Lt Hagen went to check Berg but was cut down in the massive enemy fire and died. Bingham left his bunker to reposition the claymores and died within six feet of his position with a bullet striking him in the head. A SCU jumped up and was cut down immediately. SGT Bill Queen lay wounded, SGT Tony Anderson having sustained multiple wound, but fighting and commanding the situation, and SGT William Rimondi unwounded and fighting. The enemy came in great numbers, so close rolling over the hill, they were inches from the end of the CAR 15 muzzles. Then air support arrived with massive fire power which broke the enemy’s attack and the enemy fled for cover. By this time Rimondi, SSG  was suffered multiple wounds. Hueys arrived and the remaining team members and some of the teams dead were recover. Three hours later, SGT Anderson, although wounded, returned with the bright light team and recovered the dead. Berg’s remains were not located. Three Americans and three SCU died in this action with a confirmed 185 NVA dead, a kill ratio of 31:1.  Hagen and Bingham Remains Recovered. as of 2023 Berg's Remains not Recovered.  Both SSG Rimondi and SGT Queen were med'evac'ed, seriously wounded and never returned to  unit. According to  Queen and Rimondi, see last stand of RT Kansas, SSG Rimondi had the M60 Machine gun until  he was wounded.

 SPECIAL NOTE:  I became a friend of William "Bill" Queen who was on this mission, he had developed a very, very heavy drinking problem trying to mentally deal with this thematic event, to  the point, in my opinion, the drinking killed him. I was able to drive to  his  home and pick him up to take him to a 1st SFGA Reunion in San Antonio.  He had refused to associate with any military up to that point.  His drinking was so heavy, he'd take his med's follow them with a 5th of Whiskey then vomit it all up.  His demise was a direct result of this event!

 

 

Loren "Festus" D. Hagenmoh_army-s.gif

Oran L. Bingham

 

Bruce A. Berg

 

Name: Bruce Allan Berg; Rank/Branch: E5/US Army; Unit: USARV Training Operational Group TF1AE TSH NHA; Date of Birth: 22 April 1950 Home City of Record: Olympia WA; Date of Loss: 07 August 1971 Country of Loss: South Vietnam; Loss Coordinates: 164700N 1064732E Status (in 1973): Killed/Body Not Recovered; Category: 2Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: Ground; Other Personnel in Incident: (none missing)

Refno: 1765 REMARKS: Source: Compiled from one or more of the following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews. Updated by the P.O.W. NETWORK in 1998.

SYNOPSIS: On August 7, 1971, Sgt. Berg was serving in a reconnaissance unit in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam. That morning, Sgt. Berg and an indigenous soldier left their night defensive position, a bunker, to recover a Claymore mine which had been positioned the night before. The indigenous soldier reported that Sgt. Berg was hit in the head by small arms fire about 6 feet from the bunker. No effort could be made by other U.S. members of the team to recover Sgt. Berg, as the team came under heavy enemy pressure. During the ensuing fire fight, a large amount of friendly infantry ordnance was fired into the vicinity of Sgt. Berg's last known position. The surviving members of the team were later forced to withdraw, leaving behind Sgt. Berg, one other U.S. soldier, and several indigenous soldiers. At an unspecified date, another team went to the location of the incident and recovered the bodies of the other U.S. soldier and the three indigenous bodies, but was not able to locate Sgt. Berg. Berg's condition at the time of withdrawal of the unit is unknown. The initial shot in his head may or may not have been mortal. The artillery fire may or may not have killed him, but if so, may or may not have obliterated any trace of his body. These details may never be known. It is noteworthy that although the recovery team located the bodies of the other dead personnel, they did not find any trace of Berg. It is possible, although remotely so, that he recovered from the shock of his initial wound, left his original position, and survived to be captured. Since the end of the war, several million documents have been reviewed by the U.S. Government and hundreds of thousands of interviews conducted on the subject of Americans missing in Southeast Asia. Many authorities are convinced that hundreds are still alive in captivity. If Sgt. Berg survived, perhaps he is one of them. It's time we brought these men home. NOTE: SEE THE BOOK An Enormous Crime "The Definitive Account of American POWs Abandoned in Southeast Asia by Former U.S. Rep Bill Hendon (R-N.C.) and Elizabeth A. Stewart.

 

Mon Oct 13  1997 Great work... I have additional information regarding Bruce Allen Berg. The combat action in which Berg was lost is described in the last chapter of John L. Plaster's new book SOG: The Secret Wars of America's Commandos in Vietnam (1997 Simon & Schuster).  The day of Berg's loss I heard the story somewhat differently, and I told Plaster that by phone a couple of weeks ago. Surviving witnesses are Staff Sergeant Tony Andersen, USA (he was the one who told Plaster his version of the story), and Sergeant William Ramundi [Rimundi?] who told me his account immediately after returning from the battle in which Berg was lost.  Ramundi has not yet been located for comment. On his previous mission Berg was second in command (One-One) on Recon Team Oklahoma, which I commanded (mixed USASF and Montagnard commandos).  I was not on the mission in which he was lost the following week. Berg's unit TF1AE (Task Force One Advisory Element), was previously known as CCN (Command & Control North) [MACVSOG]. Berg's Aug. 7, 1971 loss was near Khe Sanh.  Berg was a member of Command & Control North (CCN was renamed Task Force One Advisory Element "TF1AE", Training Advisory Group [TAG] in 1971), which was based on the North side of Marble Mountain in Da Nang.  Berg had been second in command of Recon Team Oklahoma on his previous mission, and he was attached to RT Kansas at the time of his loss.  Six US Army Special Forces and eight Montangnards made up RT Kansas for Sergeant Berg's last mission.  Other than Berg, Rimumdi [Ramondi ?], and Anderson, the other USASF team members were Sergeant William (Bill) Queen, Staff Sergeant Oran Bringham, and Lieutenant Loren Hagen.  I do not have the names of the Montangard commandos who survived that combat action. As described in Plaster's book (SOG), although they weren't aware of it at the time, RT Kansas had inadvertently set up their defensive perimeter almost within sight of the Hanoi High Command's most critical new venture, the first 6-inch fuel pipeline laid across the DMZ and down the Cam Lo River valley, absolutely essential in the next few months when entire tank battalions would roll through there for the war's largest offensive.  The NVA 304th Division, plus a regiment of the 308th Division was already massing nearby, in preparation for the offensive. According to Chief SOG Colonel John Sadler, an entire NVA regiment, supported by a second regiment, stormed the hill top position of RT Kansas that day. At a mismatch seven times greater than the Alamo, it was the most one-sided battle of the war. A few hours after that action I was told by Ramondi that Berg was standing inside their perimeter when he was apparently hit in the shoulder, or head, by what he thought was a B-40 rocket or mortar round.  According to Ramondi the blast knocked Berg outside of their perimeter.  Hagan went after him, and never returned.  In Anderson's account (as told by Plaster) he states that Berg was inside a bunker which was hit with an RPG, and that Hagan was killed while attempting to reach Berg's position.  In your posted biographical sketch of Berg you describe how an "indigenous soldier reported that Sgt. Berg was hit in the head by small arms fire about six feet from the bunker." Immediately after Berg was hit by the initial volley (whether by an RPG, or mortar round, or whatever) of enemy fire on the teams position, Hagan apparently made a valiant attempt to reach Berg.  Hagan received the CMH posthumously for his unsuccessful effort.  Although Hagan's body was recovered later that day, Bruce Berg was never found.  He was declared Killed/Body Not Recovered (in 1973 ?).

I think we've all noticed, through the years, that true heroes seldom speak of their gallantry.  When they do it's usually with humble reluctance, and only then shared with those closest to them who care enough to listen and learn.  

This is a recent photo of my friend Bill Rimondi.  We went through SF training group together and were on the same team in commo field training.  We got together again later in 1971 at CCN / TF1AE, when he was assigned to RT Oklahoma.  After he completed recon team leader's school Rimondi ran his first combat mission in the A Shau with RT Kansas (Hagan, Berg, Bingham, Queen, [Anthony?], and Montangnard team members).  Information by: Dr. Bruce Rusty Lang, Project 404, Laos, 1970, CCN, MACVSOG, 1971 - 2526 West Tenth Street, Dallas, Texas, USA 75211-1652; Tel: 214-467-5263; Email: [email protected]

Pastor Bill Rimondi at Liberty Center Bible College

Family information request re. Oran Bingham [CCN, RT Kansas KIA 8/7/71]
FM: Sean Williams <[email protected]>

I am looking for anyone with more information about SSG Oran L. Bingham, a member of RT Kansas, TF1AE (CCN), KIA 07Aug71. He along With 1LT Loren Hagen and SGT Bruce Berg were killed that day 17km NNE of old Lang Vei (coord. 164700N.1064732E) Surviving members of his team were SGT William (Bill) Queen, SGT Tony Anderson and SGT William Rimondi but I haven't been able to find any information about any of these men. If anyone out there knows how to contact or has any information on the whereabouts for these men please contact me. SSG Oran Bingham was my wife's father and she wants to know more about him. He was killed when she was 6 months old and he never knew that he was a father. Her mother refuses to give up any information about him so any info I could get from this forum would really be appreciated. Or if anyone out there knew him form other units (he was a 11B4S) or AT ALL please write. Thanks.

NOTE:  A few years ago, I located William (Bill)  Queen and visited him a few time in Houston. The effects of that battle still haunted him greatly. He had been somewhat reclusive and avoided other veterans, but I was able to drive down and pick him up to go to San Antonio for a 1st Special Forces Reunion.  I think it did him some good as his attitude changed a bit during those few days being with other SF guys. One thing that Bill said over and over regarding the Anderson version of events was that he wondered if Anderson was actually there because his story did not line up with his experience of what occurred.  In any experience of such events, there will be many different observation and experience by those going through such events so what one man experience, another might experience something completely different so who is to say who is right or wrong.  Both may be right.  rln .  
 

1971

08

13

E-5 SGT

Mark H.

Eaton

11B4S

KIA

SVN; TF1AE, RT North Carolina, Quang Nam Prov., YC465505 7k WSW of Ta Ko

13 Aug 71- Mark H. Eaton, SGT E-5, USASF, Recon, TFlAE (CCN)-KIA RR  A Note from The Virtual Wall: Staff Sergeant Eaton was assigned to the Psychological Warfare Section, TF-1AE, Command & Control North, at the time of his death. By report, he was killed in action with Recon Team "North Carolina" about 7km west-southwest of Ta Ko. 

 

Mark H. Eaton,  

POSTED ON 8.13.2021
 
POSTED BY: GRATEFUL VIETNAM VETERAN

SILVER STAR MEDAL AWARD

CITATION:
The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress July 9, 1918 (amended by an act of July 25, 1963), takes pride in presenting the Silver Star (Posthumously) to Staff Sergeant Mark Haskin Eaton, United States Army, for gallantry in action while engaged in military operations involving conflict with an armed hostile force in the Republic of Vietnam. Sergeant Eaton distinguished himself on 13 August 1971 while serving as Assistant Team Leader of a small reconnaissance team operating deep within enemy-controlled territory. In the early morning, the team hastily ambushed a superior-size enemy force that had been sweeping the area. Sergeant Eaton immediately began placing a heavy volume of CAR-15 fire on the advancing force, inflicting heavy casualties on them. The enemy then regrouped and aggressively assaulted the reconnaissance team's position, utilizing small arms, hand grenades, automatic weapons, rocket propelled grenades and B-40 rockets. Valiantly, Sergeant Eaton rallied his team while repeatedly exposing himself to a hail of hostile fire in order to direct the defense of the team's position. Again he inflicted heavy losses on the enemy by returning deadly volume of CAR-15 fire, thwarting the enemy assault until he was mortally wounded. At the cost of his life, Sergeant Eaton's gallantry in action was in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflects great credit upon himself, his unit, and the United States Army.

? Aug 71- ARVN Tm/Asst Tm Ldrs and Five Special Commando Scouts (Names and ranks unknown) MIA

? Aug 71 - Five Special Commando scouts KIA and one Scout MIA (names unknown) performing Spike Team duties in the Demilitarized Zone.

1971

09

14

E-8 MSG

Don R.

Gilbreth

11F5S

KIA

SVN; TF1AE, Quang Nam Prov., BT065697, 3.4k S of C-1, hit road mine, w/ CPT Roesch

1971

09

14

O-3 CPT

Heinz K.

Roesch

31542

KIA

SVN; TF2AE, Quang Nam Prov., BT065697, 3.4k S of C-1, hit road mine, w/ MSG Gilbreth

14 Sep 71- Heinz K. Roesch, CPT 0-3 and Don R. Gilbreth, MSG E-8, TF1AE (CCN), Da Nang, Ops 35 Killed while riding a jeep which hit a mine outside the compound KIA-RR

Heinz K. Roesch,

Don R. Gilbreth

 

? Oct 71- Two Special Commando Scouts (Names unknown) KIA in base area 702

 

1971

10

11

E-7 SFC

Audley D.

Mills

11F4C

KIA

SVN; TF1AE, Quang Nam Prov., BT076712 1.5k SE of C-1; while disarming a booby trap

11 Oct 71- Audley "Audie" D. Mills, SFC E-7, USASF, TFlAE (CCN), Da Nang, Ops 35 KIA-RR  He was killed when his six man recon team made contact with an enemy force while performing Recon in South Vietnam. He called for assistance and a "Prairie Fire" emergency, but before being extracted, he was killed. SOG’s final death due to ground operations.  SFC Mills was fatally injured and another soldier wounded in Quang Nam Province, RVN, when a booby-trap he was trying to disarm detonated (Note: I met Audie when he got in country and  was in the TOC, I was put in the TOC Aug 70 pending a commission at the end of Aug 70, a very likeable guy and someone I considered a friend, he is missed-RL Noe)

POSTED ON 5.16.2017
 
POSTED BY: [email protected]

GROUND CASUALTY

SFC Audley D. Mills was an Infantry Operations and Intelligence Specialist serving with Task Force 1 Army Element (TF-1 AE), MACV-SOG, 5th Special Forces Group. On October 11, 1971, SFC Mills was fatally injured and another soldier wounded in Quang Nam Province, RVN, when a booby-trap he was trying to disarm detonated. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org, vvmf.org, and specialforcesroh.com]

? Oct 71- Two Special Commando Scouts (names unknown) MIA.

? Oct 71- Five Special Commando Scouts (names unknown) KIA

1971

10

29

E-7 SFC

Gene W.

Stockman

71L4S

DNH, accidental homicide

SVN; TF1AE, Quang Nam Prov., accidental shooting in the old CCN barracks

29 29 Oct 71- Gene W. Stockman, SFC E-7, USASF, TF1AF (CCN), Died  Gene was not killed as a result of a vehicle accident, he was killed in an accidental shooting with my .25 cal browning pocket pistol.  I was on leave at the time and Gene had asked me to let him keep my pistol safe while I was gone. He went drinking somewhere one night and was shot in the gut, right through the artery that splits and becomes the femoral arteries in the legs.  I was a SSG at the time, working in the S4 shop and had the privilege of supporting these very brave soldiers. At the time, MG Bowra was a 2LT and MG Bargewell was a SSG, Recon Company with CPT Manes and the irrepressible SGM Billy Waugh.  By: Richard Whitmanh

Gene W. Stockman

 
30 Oct 71 -Robert E Ryan, 1LT, FAC Pilot, 20th TASS, KIA RR. On 30 Oct 71, LT Ryan took off from Nakom Phanom Royal Thai Air Force Base at 0020 hrs local Thailand time with SSG Robert T Aston of TFIAE (Covey Rider). Their mission was a visual reconnaissance over Laos. While returning , he crashed near Savannakhet, Laos. SSG Ashton was critically injured with multiple broken bones, internal injuries and possible head injuries.  At 0521hrs Lt Ryan advised moonbeam, the Airborne Command Post, that one of his engines was out and the other was running rough.  At 0525hrs he advised Moonbeam that his other engine had quit and that it appeared that he was going to land short of the runway. He was wearing a parachute, however, by the time he realized that he would not make it to the runway, he had descended below the minimum altitude for bailout. The aircraft crashed approximately 0530hrs one mile short of the runway. It was determined Lt Ryan died instantly as a result of the crash. We have no way of knowing whether the aircraft was shot down by hostile fire or not. However, it is believed to be the case as he was flying over an extremely hostile area. SSG Ashton did not recall any details of the crash and he was at the Medical Holding Detachment as of 22 November 1971. (MEMO: After the aircraft was recovered, it was determined the fuel tanks had been hit with small arms, resulting in fuel loss) Source: DFC Citation and letters from Commander 20TASS submitted by Major Mike Linnane, US Army Special Forces, Mike is the brother-in-law of Lt Ryan. Major Linnane fought during the attack on Ben Het and was the recipient of the Bronze Star w/V device.

Robert E Ryan

? Nov 71- Special Commando Scout (Name unknown) MIA after a fire fight with the enemy

? Nov 7- Earth Angel Team Members (Name and Number unknown) failed to return after being trapped in an enemy ambush MIA-Bodies not recovered

? Dec 71- Pilot, 0-1G aircraft and Photographer (Names unknown) MACSOG 20, Intel Div, Flying a photo recon mission the aircraft was shot down. KIA-RR. I know that this was a Marine Master Gunnery Sergeant (Photographer/Intelligence Specialist) and an Air Force Captain (pilot).  The plane went down in Cambodia, when the pilot was killed at extremely low altitude and the aircraft could not recover.  I knew the Master Gunnery Sergeant, he was with me at MACVSOG on Louis Pasteur Street in Saigon, but one of my Vietnam problems is the inability to remember many names. Don Williams, MACVSOG, SOA 2478

12 12 Dec 71- Benard J. Moran, Jr., MSG E-8, US Marine Corps, SOG, Ops 20, NCOIC-KIA. and CWO Lloyd S. Rainey of the 74th Aviation Company. At the time, the 74th Aviation Company had a detachment at Quan Loi,I served with BJ in OP-20 and had the pleasure of pinning his E-8 stripes on him.  BJ was the only Marine serving specifically with SOG who was KIA’ed and we’re very proud of him. He would like to be remembered as the kind of Marine he was-Outstanding.  The mission he was on was strictly volunteer basis and he wasn’t required to be where he was when KIA’ed.  Major Ralph Sturgeon, USMC. ---

Benard J. Moran, Jr

CWO Lloyd S. Rainey

POSTED ON 10.15.2015
 
POSTED BY: [email protected]

FINAL MISSION OF MSGT BERNARD J. MORAN JR. AND LLOYD S. RAINEY

MSGT Bernard J. Moran Jr. was a USMC imagery interpretation specialist from OPS-20, Command and Control South (CCS), MACV-SOG, MACV. On December 12, 1971, he was a “backseater” in a 0-1G aircraft piloted by CWO Lloyd S. Rainey of the 74th Aviation Company. At the time, the 74th Aviation Company had a detachment at Quan Loi, near An Loc, which conducted missions in support of MACV-SOG's CCS headquarters. On this day they were flying a visual/handheld photography recon mission in Cambodia at extremely low altitude (tree top) level when the aircraft was hit by ground fire. Pilot CWO Rainey was killed and the aircraft did not recover. MSGT Moran suffered fatal injuries in the attack. Their remains were recovered. [Taken from macvsog.cc and virtualwall.org]

 My Name is MSgt Allwerdt USMC where I serve as an Imagery Analyst, I  am trying to find out any information concerning MSgt Bernard Moran. He was a Marine 0241 (Imagery Analyst) who was assigned/served with MACV-SOG and was killed in action 12 Dec 1971.  MSgt Moran is the  only 0241 KIA but there is little information on his service.  I am hoping to gather information so that the Marine Imagery community can know about his sacrifice and better honor his memory.  Not to mention that there were few Marines let alone intelligence Marines who served with MACV-SOG.  Thank you for you assistance in this matter. Respectfully, Karl M. Allwerdt
MSgt USMC  [email protected]

 

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