TO LISTEN TO GEORGE JONE'S 50,000 NAMES ON THE WALL
| 64 | 65 | 66 | 67 | 68 | 69 | 70 | 72 | 73 |
17 Jan 71- Perry M. Smith, SGT E-5, USASF, CCS-KIA
21 Jan 71- Joseph J. Slifka, Jr. ILT 0-2, USASF, CCS, OPS 35. died during an Remain Over Night (RON) incident where 1Lt Slifka stepped out of the perimeter to relieve himself. The team had taken along a Captain who was unaware of the team’s procedures, as a strap hanger, who heard a noise and fired in the direction of the noise, killing Lt Slifka. However, other records have Lt Slifka as being killed as a result of a motor vehicle accident on 21 Jan 72 (Details furnished by a CCS member)
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 These three individuals were attending the SOG Reconnaissance Team Leader’s Course and while a on Recon, they were engaged by an unexpected enemy which overwhelmed them by number. FOR DETAILS SEE-->LOVELACE/CELANO/OPPERMAN
28 Jan 71- Arthur A. Smith, SGT E-5, USASF CCN, Da Nang, Ops 35, died as a result of Non Hostile Action
29 Jan 71- David Ives Mixer, 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.
15 Feb 71- Marvin Maurice Leonard, W02, Pilot of Grand Rapids, Mich; Barry Frank Fivelson, WO-2 of Evanston, Ill; James Harry Taylor, 2LT 0-1 of Oroville, CA; Everett Crone, SP/4 of Whittier, CA; Willis Calvin Crear, SP/4 of Birmingham, CA and John Lynn Powers, SP/4 of Mackay, Idaho, USA Aviation, Co C, 159th Avn Bn, Ops 32/75,MIA- Presumptive finding of death. On a SOG resupply mission in Laos their helicopter (CH-47C) caught fire and exploded in the air, and crashed in a area replete with enemy activity. There were no indications of survivors.
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, CA A/101US Army Aviation, 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." by
http://www.a101avn.org/KIA~MIA.html. 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 let 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]
SPECIAL NOTE TO DEMPSEY: DON MURPHY WHO FILED THE NEW INFO
THAT HE WENT TO THE AREA OF THE CRASH IN JAN 72 AND THE LADDER WHICH THE
ORIGINAL TEAM HAD LEFT WAS STILL THERE, CAN BE CONTACTED BY CALLIN HIM FOR MORE
DETAILED INFO BEFORE YOU GUYS GO BACK FOR THE RECOVERY MISSION. HE CAN BE
CONTACTED VIA EMAIL AT dasmurf@commandnet.net OR TELEPHONE 270-798-3581.
19 Feb 71- James "Woodstock" Larry Hull, 2LT 0-1 of Lubbock, TX USAF, FAC Pilot, 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)
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]
aD
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 theDepartment 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.
10 Apr 71- Robert N. Fiesler, SGT E-5, USASF, TF2AE (CCC), Recon Mission-KIA. He was killed at Dak To launch site by a rocket attack filed by William F. Lewis
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 so 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)
.
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 with 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 Krupa was 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
28 Apr 71- Donald F. West. SGM E-9, USASF TF1AE (CCN)-KIA
29 Apr 71- Albert McCoy, Jr. SSG E-6, USASF, TF1AE (CCN)-KIA
03 May 71- Klaus Y. Bingham, SSG E-6 of Wahiawa,
Hawaii, James Martin Luttrell, SSG E-6 of Fayetteville, NC; and
Lewis Clark Walton, SSG E-6 of Cranston, RI USASF, 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.
Staff Sgt. Lewis Clark Walton Sr., who was posthumously promoted to Sgt. 1st Class, smiles in a photo taken of him in his Vietnam War era uniform during his time in the Green Berets. His remains were escorted on May 1 from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command at Hickam AFB, Hawaii, to Rhode Island by his son, Sgt. 1st Class Lewis Clark Jr., 115th Military Police Company, Rhode Island National Guard, for burial. Photo by Courtesy
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.
17 May 71- 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 Three bodies were recovered and one is listed as MIA. These men were lost when their helicopter was shot down while attempting an extraction of a recon team.
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 and the scout was KIA-RR.
RT 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.
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." Jim Hollingsworth, 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 10 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 11 took fragments to his face. I saw that the 11'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 11 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
Dale Dehnke (in head band) & Danny Entrican (back facing camera) - See Dale's memorial, click-->Dale
Several other photo's of Dale and another of Lt Entrican
See Danny Entrican's memorial--->Entrican
20 May 71- Scott H. Newport, CPT 0-3, TF3AE (CCS), Ban Me Thout, Ops 35 Killed while participating in SOG activities, RR
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
22 Jun 71- Madison Alexander Strohlein, SGT E-5 of Philadelphia, PA, 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. Please see: http://www.a101avn.org/SOG.htm which is a letter written by Richard A Bittle, Crew Chief on one of the birds that went in to recover the team and tells of the efforts to find Stroheim, also see "SOG HALO EXTRACTION" in the Tales From SOG. NOTE: NEWS FLASH Vietnam admitted Strohlein was captured alive see--POW/MIAs abanonded
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 11 , 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 11 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 11 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
26 Jun 71- Sebastion E. Deluca, MSG E-8, SOG, 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 Americans. [Photo featured, page 104-105, Project Omega, Eye of The Beast, by James E. Acre]
06 Jul 71- Daniel W. Thomas, 1LT 0-2, Pilot, Covey, 23rd Tactical Aerial Surveillance Squadron, tail # 634, USAF Ops 32/75 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. 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.
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 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 1-0. (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)
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, 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 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.
Name: Bruce Allan Berg; Rank/Branch: E5/US Army; Unit: USARV Training Operational Group TF1AE TSH NHA; Date of Birth: 22 April 1950Home 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 ?).
NOTE: I spent sometimes with William (Bill) Queen who was on this mission, he says that Anderson was not a team member, he does not recall who Anderson is and he is confused by Anderson's version, as it is not correct. He stated Anderson must have been a "strap hanger," otherwise, he would have remembered him. Bill Queen is the one who submitted Lt Hagen for the Congressional Medal of Honor.--RL Noe
Family information request re. Oran Bingham [CCN, RT Kansas
KIA 8/7/71]
FM: Sean Williams <swilliams@slco.org>
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.
13 Aug 71- Mark H. Eaton, SGT E-5, USASF, Recon, TFlAE (CCN)-KIA
? 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.
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
? Oct 71- Two Special Commando Scouts (Names unknown) KIA in base area 702
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.
? Oct 71- Two Special Commando Scouts (names unknown) MIA.
? Oct 71- Five Special Commando Scouts (names unknown) KIA
29 Oct 71- Gene W. Stockman, SFC E-7, USASF, TF1AF (CCN), Died as a result of a vehicle accident (?) I believe he was killed while racing back from Da Nang to the compound. He and 2lt Panormitis Stavalas (see 21 Jan below) were in two jeeps that were racing each. Just clowning around as I understand it when they lost control and crashed or something like that.They were both in the S4 section (2lt Stavalas was the mess officer I think. He signed the mess cards and collected the funds for local purchase from us each month. [Bob Castillo RT Idaho CCN 71-72]. Correction: 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 Whitman
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? 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. 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. --- 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
allwerdt@mac.com
19 Dec 71- Peter Charles Forame, 2LT 0 1 and Thomas William Skiles, WO- 1 MACVSOG, MACV, Saigon, MIA. These men were lost in Cambodia while flying a SOG mission.
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