Help with 5th Gp memorialization info

[glebo]

Gents, I got this as an email from a good MSG in the 5th.

Can we help him out?? Anyone with info pls pm me and I can pass it on. Or, I can give you his contact info (QP's only)

Thanks, Bob

"Gentlemen,

We are researching some historical deaths from 5th GRP SM’s from the time of the move to Fort Campbell. I have a couple of names from 2nd BN losses that we have not already been able to track down and a handful for the rest of GRP. Group is broadening the structure of it’s memorial on Gabriel Field and we are trying to find NOK information for a few people to open up the invitations to them. Here are the names of people that we are looking for family information on for 2nd BN;

SSG Lynn W. Tiedgen:
SGT Andrew Johnson:


Here is a list of names from an incident in 1989 in AZ. I believe it might have been an airplane crash?

SGT Terry Hollway
SGT Larry D. Endress
SSG Robert L. Griswold
SSG Kenneth W. Campbell
SSG John W. Bigler II
SFC George A. Wayne
SFC Kevin R. Livengood
SFC Larry K. Evans
MSG Rodger D. Berryhill
SSGT Json M. Faley
CPT Alan C. Brown
CPT Alvin L. Broussard
MSG David K. Thuma
LTC Lawrence M. Rolle
MSGT Malte Breitlow
TSGT William E. Slaven
MAJ Donald D. Thomas

There are few other names throughout GRP that we are looking for, that I do not have with me at this time. If you could circulate this information to anyone else that may have been in 5th GRP around that timeframe, I would greatly appreciate the help."

[Richard]

CH-3E crash 12 March 1989.

RIP, guys.

Richard

An Air Force helicopter crashed Sunday in the desert on a night training mission, killing all 15 people aboard, the authorities said today.

Workers at the crash site, in an uninhabited area 20 miles northwest of Tucson, recovered the last bodies late this morning after using a crane to move the burned-out wreckage, said Capt. Carlos Roque, a spokesman for the Davis-Monthan Air Force base, where the helicopter had refueled.

The CH-3E helicopter, with 4 Air Force crew members from the base, went down on a clear, moonless night while ferrying 11 soldiers, the authorities said. Goggles Ruled Out as Factor

A witness said he saw what appeared to be flames from the helicopter before it crashed. Another said the helicopters were flying very low.

Captain Roque said that the cause of the crash was under investigation but that the crew's use of night-vision goggles, the subject of criticism after previous crashes, was not a factor.

Captain Roque said that in previous crashes involving the goggles, the aircraft were on low-level flights or close to other aircraft.

Another helicopter was in the area, Captain Roque said, but the two craft were not close to each other. He said he did not know exactly how far apart they were flying. He also said they were flying above the minimum altitude set by the Federal Aviation Administration but could not specify the minimum limit for the site or the helicopter's level before the crash. Trip to Gunnery Range

Captain Roque said the helicopter, made by the United Technologies Corporation's Sikorsky Aircraft Division, was transporting the soldiers, stationed at Fort Bragg, N.C., from Fort Huachuca to the Air Force's Gila Bend Gunnery Range, 200 miles away.

Since 1978, 37 of 41 Army helicopter crashes in which night goggles were used occurred when there was not enough moonlight for the light-amplifying devices to work properly, The Orange County Register reported Sunday. Those crashes killed 65 soldiers when mechanically sound helicopters flew into mountains, oceans, lakes, trees and power lines, the California newspaper said. There have been calls in Congress for an investigation into the goggles' use.

The Army's policy of flying under overcast and moonless nights with night-vision goggles has never been cited as a contributing factor in a crash in military records.

Sgt. Jill Archer identified four of the victims as Lieut. Col. Lawrence M. Rolle, 41 years old, of Phoenix, the reserve squadron commander who was flying as co-pilot; Maj. Donald D. Thomas, 42, of Tempe, the pilot; Master Sgt. Malte Breitlow, 45, of Tucson; and Tech. Sgt. William E. Slaven, 37, also of Tucson.

http://www.nytimes.com/1989/03/14/us/helicopter-crash-kills-15-in-arizona.html

[MR2]

I was attending the officer portion of the Q when this tragedy occurred. In the class was a newly minted WO1 who we both had gone through Phase I & II only 14 years earlier. He would have been there had fate not intervened and placed him back in the Q. For this was his team that went down that awful night.

RIP brothers.

IIRC his name is WO1 Quinton Richards.

[nousdefions]

SFC George Wayne was on my team (ODA 552) in 2nd BN. He transferred to 3rd BN to stay at Ft. Bragg. He was a native of North Carolina and wanted to stay near his family.

Also, MSG David Thuma was the Team Sergeant of ODA 385, when he died of a heart attack, while deployed to Kenya. I knew Dave from my O&I/NCO Academy days and also in 5th Group. Dave was with OP Salaam in Pakistan where he met his future wife, Josee.

RIP brothers...I think of you often.

[Warchief]

MSG David K. Thuma died in Kenya in July 1998 from cardiac arrest not in the CH-53 crash.

[glebo]

Richard, thanks, Chief yeah I informed the 5th Gp MSG of that...thanks..

All, thanks for the info.. :) Helps put the pieces of history together.

I'm grateful they are doing this...

[Team Sergeant]

MSG David K. Thuma died in Kenya in July 1998 from cardiac arrest not in the CH-53 crash.

Agree. I met then, SGT Thuma in infantry BNCOC. We talked a lot about Special Forces, great soldier.