View Full Version : MIA Remains Identified and Flown Home
Many here can appreciate the beauty in this recent AP story. And our Thanks to those who work so hard to make this possible
Families Find Closure With Pentagon's Identification of MIA Remains (http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGB5GR187CE.html)
The Reaper
08-10-2005, 07:57
RIP, brothers.
Welcome home.
TR
Never Forgotten
Welcome home
Team Sergeant
08-10-2005, 11:04
MILLER, GLENN EDWIN
Name: Glenn Edwin Miller
Rank/Branch: E5/US Army Special Forces
Unit: Detachment A-105, 5th Special Forces Group
Date of Birth: 13 September 1944 (Berkeley CA)
Home City of Record: Oakland CA
Date of Loss: 12 May 1968
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 152208N 1074541E (YC965009)
Status (in 1973): Killed/Body Not Recovered
Category: 3
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: Ground
Refno: 1167
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.
Personnel in Incident: Ngok Tavak: Horace H. Fleming; Thomas J. Blackman;Joseph F. Cook; Paul S. Czerwonka; Thomas W. Fritsch; Barry L. Hempel; Raymond T. Heyne; Gerald E. King; Robert C. Lopez; William D. McGonigle; Donald W. Mitchell; James R. Sargent (members of USMC search team - all
missing); Glenn E. Miller; Thomas H. Perry (USSF teammembers - missing); Kham Duc: Richard E. Sands (missing from CH47); Bernard L. Bucher; Frank M.
Hepler; George W. Long; John L. McElroy; Stephan C. Moreland (USAF crew of C130 - all missing); Warren R. Orr (USSF on C130 - missing); Harry B. Coen; Andrew J. Craven; Juan M. Jimenez; Frederick J. Ransbottom; Maurice H.
Moore; Joseph L. Simpson; William E. Skivington; John C. Stuller; Imlay S. Widdison; Danny L. Widner; Roy C. Williams (all missing); Julius W. Long
(released POW).
REMARKS:
SYNOPSIS: Kham Duc Special Forces camp (A-105), was located on the western fringes of Quang Tin ("Great Faith") Province, South Vietnam. In the spring of 1968, it was the only remaining border camp in Military Region I. Backup responsibility for the camp fell on the 23rd Infantry Division (Americal),
based at Chu Lai on the far side of the province.
The camp had originally been built for President Diem, who enjoyed hunting in the area. The 1st Special Forces detachment (A-727B) arrived in September 1963 and found the outpost to be an ideal border surveillance site with an existing airfield. The camp was located on a narrow grassy plain surrounded by rugged, virtually uninhabited jungle. The only village in the area,
located across the airstrip, was occupied by post dependents, camp followers and merchants. The camp and airstrip were bordered by the Ngok Peng Bum ridge to the west and Ngok Pe Xar mountain, looming over Kham Duc to the east. Steep banked streams full of rapids and waterfalls cut through the
tropical wilderness. The Dak Mi River flowed past the camp over a mile distant, under the shadow of the Ngok Pe Xar.
Five miles downriver was the small forward operating base of Ngok Tavak, defended by the 113-man 11th Mobile Strike Force Company with its 8 Special Forces and 3 Australian advisors. Since Ngok Tavak was outside friendly artillery range, 33 Marine artillerymen of Battery D, 2nd Battalion, 13th Marines, with two 105mm howitzers were located at the outpost.
Capt. Christopher J. Silva, commander of Detachment A-105 helicoptered into Ngok Tavak on May 9, 1968 in response to growing signs of NVA presence in the area. Foul weather prevented his scheduled evening departure. A Kham Duc
CIDG platoon fleeing a local ambush also arrived and was posted to the outer perimeter. It was later learned that the CIDG force contained VC infiltrators.
Ngok Tavak was attacked by an NVA infantry battalion at 0315 hours on May 10. The base was pounded by mortars and direct rocket fire. As the frontal assault began, the Kham Duc CIDG soldiers moved toward the Marines in the fort yelling, "Don't shoot, don't shoot! Friendly, friendly!" Suddenly they
lobbed grenades into the Marine howitzer positions and ran into the fort, where they shot several Marines with carbines and sliced claymore mine and communication wires.
The defenders suffered heavy casualties but stopped the main assault and killed the infiltrators. The NVA dug in along the hill slopes and grenaded the trenches where the mobile strike force soldiers were pinned by machine gun and rocket fire. An NVA flamethrower set the ammunition ablaze, banishing the murky flare- lighted darkness for the rest of the night. SFC
Harold M. Swicegood and the USMC platoon leader, Lt. Adams, were badly wounded and moved to the command bunker. Medical Spec4 Blomgren reported that the CIDG mortar crews had abandoned their weapons. Silva tried to operate the main 4.2 inch mortar but was wounded. At about 0500 hours, Sgt. Glenn Miller, an A-105 communications specialist, was shot through the head as he ran over to join the Marine howitzer crews.
The NVA advanced across the eastern side of Ngok Tavak and brought forward more automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenade launchers. In desperation, the defenders called on USAF AC-47 "Spooky" gunships to strafe the perimeter and the howitzers, despite the possible presence of friendly
wounded in the gun pits. The NVA countered with tear gas, but the wind kept drifting the gas over their own lines. After three attempts, they stopped. A grenade fight between the two forces lasted until dawn.
At daybreak Australian Warrant Officers Cameron and Lucas, joined by Blomgren, led a CIDG counterattack. The North Vietnamese pulled back under covering fire, and the howitzers were retaken. The Marines fired the last nine shells and spiked the tubes. Later that morning medical evacuation helicopters supported by covering airstrikes took out the seriously wounded,
including Silva and Swicegood. Two CH46's were able to land 45 replacements from the 12th Mobile Strike Force Company, accompanied by Capt. Euge E. Makowski (who related much of this account to Shelby Stanton, author of "Green Berets at War"), but one helicopter was hit in the fuel line and forced down. Another helicopter was hit by a rocket and burst into flames, wrecking the small helipad. The remaining wounded were placed aboard a
hovering helicopter. As it lifted off, two Mike Force soldiers and 1Lt.
Horace Fleming, one of the stranded aviation crewmen, grabbed the helicopter skids. All three fell to their deaths after the helicopter had reached an altitude of over one hundred feet.
The mobile strike force soldiers were exhausted and nervous. Ammunition and water were nearly exhausted, and Ngok Tavak was still being pounded by sporadic mortar fire. They asked permission to evacuate their positions, but were told to "hold on" as "reinforcements were on the way". By noon the defenders decided that aerial reinforcement or evacuation was increasingly
unlikely, and night would bring certain destruction. An hour later, they abandoned Ngok Tavak.
Thomas Perry, a medic from C Company, arrived at the camp at 0530 hours the morning of the 10th. He cared for the wounded and was assisting in an attempt to establish a defensive perimeter when the decision was made to evacuate the camp. As survivors were leaving, Perry was seen by Sgt. Cordell J. Matheney, Jr., standing 20 feet away, as Australian Army Capt. John White
formed the withdrawal column at the outer perimeter wire on the eastern Ngok Tavak hillside. It was believed that Perry was going to join the end of the column.
All the weapons, equipment and munitions that could not be carried were hastily piled into the command bunker and set afire. The helicopter that had been grounded by a ruptured fuel line was destroyed with a LAW. Sgt. Miller's body was abandoned.
After survivors had gone about 1 kilometer, it was discovered that Perry was missing. Efforts were conducted to locate both Perry and Miller, including a search by a group from Battery D. They were searching along the perimeter when they were hit by enemy grenades and arms fire. Neither the men on the team nor Perry was ever found. Included in this team were PFC Thomas
Blackman; LCpl. Joseph Cook; PFC Paul Czerwonka; LCpl. Thomas Fritsch; PFC Barry Hempel; LCpl. Raymond Heyne; Cpl. Gerald King; PFC Robert Lopez; PFC William McGonigle; LCpl. Donald Mitchell; and LCpl. James Sargent. The remaining survivors evaded through dense jungle to a helicopter pickup point
midway to Kham Duc. Their extraction was completed shortly before 1900 hours on the evening of May 10.
In concert with the Ngok Tavak assault, the Kham Duc was blasted by a heavy mortar and recoilless rifle attack at 0245 hours that same morning. Periodic mortar barrages ripped into Kham Duc throughout the rest of the day, while the Americal Division airmobiled a reinforced battalion of the 196th Infantry Brigade into the compound. A Special Forces command party also landed, but the situation deteriorated too rapidly for their presence to
have positive effect.
The mortar attack on fog-shrouded Kham Duc resumed on the morning of May 11. The bombardment caused heavy losses among the frightened CIDG soldiers, who fled from their trenches across open ground, seeking shelter in the bunkers. The LLDB commander remained hidden. CIDG soldiers refused orders to check
the rear of the camp for possible North Vietnamese intruders. That evening the 11th and 12th Mobile Strike Force companies were airlifted to Da Nang, and half of the 137th CIDG Company from Camp Ha Thanh was airlanded in exchange.
Team Sergeant
08-10-2005, 11:10
The 1st VC Regiment, 2nd NVA Division, began closing the ring around Kham Duc during the early morning darkness of 12 May. At about 0415 to 0430 hours, the camp and outlying positions came under heavy enemy attack.
Outpost #7 was assaulted and fell within a few minutes. Outposts #5, #1 and #3 had been reinforced by Americal troops but were in North Vietnamese hands by 0930 hours.
OP1 was manned by PFC Harry Coen, PFC Andrew Craven, Sgt. Joseph Simpson, and SP4 Julius Long from Company E, 2nd of the 1st Infantry. At about 0415 hours, when OP1 came under heavy enemy attack, PFC Coen and SP4 Long were seen trying to man a 106 millimeter recoilless rifle. Survivors reported that in the initial enemy fire, they were knocked off their bunker. Both men
again tried to man the gun, but were knocked down again by RPG fire.
PFC Craven, along with two other men, departed the OP at 0830 hours on May 12. They moved out 50 yards and could hear the enemy in their last position. At about 1100 hours, as they were withdrawing to the battalion perimeter, they encountered an enemy position. PFC Craven was the pointman and opened
fire. The enemy returned fire, and PFC Craven was seen to fall, with multiple chest wounds. The other two men were unable to recover him, and hastily departed the area. PFC Craven was last seen lying on his back, wounded, near the camp.
OP2 was being manned by 1Lt. Frederick Ransbottom, SP4 Maurice Moore, PFC Roy Williams, PFC Danny Widner, PFC William Skivington, PFC Imlay Widdison, and SP5 John Stuller, from the 2nd of the 3rd Infantry when it came under attack. Informal questioning of survivors of this position indicated that
PFC Widdison and SP5 Stuller may have been killed in action. However, the questioning was not sufficiently thorough to produce enough evidence to confirm their deaths.
The only information available concerning 1Lt. Ransbottom, SP4 Moore, PFC Lloyd and PFC Skivington that Lt. Ransbottom allegedly radioed PFC Widner and PFC Williams, who were in the third bunker, and told them that he was shooting at the enemy as they entered his bunker.
SP4 Juan Jimenez, a rifleman assigned to Company A, 2nd of the 1st Infantry, was occupying a defensive position when he was severely wounded in the back by enemy mortar fire. SP4 Jimenez was declared dead by the Battalion Surgeon in the early morning hours of May 12. He was then carried to the helipad for
evacuation. However, due to the situation, space was available in the helicopter for only the wounded, and SP4 Jimenez'remains were left behind.
At noon a massive NVA attack was launched against the main compound. The charge was stopped by planes hurling napalm, cluster bomb units and 750 pound bombs into the final wire barriers. The decision was made by the Americal Division officers to call for immediate extraction.
The evacuation was disorderly, and at times, on the verge of complete panic. One of the first extraction helicopters to land was exploded by enemy fire, blocking the airstrip. Engineers of Company A, 70th Engineer Battalion, frantically reassembled one of their dozers (previously torn apart to prevent capture) to clear the runway. Eight more aircraft were blown out of
the sky.
PFC Richard E. Sands was a member of Company A, 1st Battalion, 46th Infantry, 198th Light Infantry Brigade being extracted on a CH47 helicopter (serial #67-18475). The helicopter was hit by 50 calliber machine gun fire at an altitude of 1500-1600 feet shortly after takeoff.
Sands, who was sitting near the door gunner, was hit in the head by an incoming rounds. The helicopter made a controlled landing and caught fire. During the evacuation from the burning helicopter, four personnel and a medic checked PFC Sands and indicated that he had been killed instantly.
Because of the danger of incoming mortar rounds and the fire, personnel attempting to remove PFC Sands from the helicopter were ordered to abandon their attempt. The remaining personnel were evacuated from the area later by another helicopter.
Intense antiaircraft fire from the captured outposts caused grave problems. Control over the indigenous forces was difficult. One group of CIDG soldiers had to be held in trenches at gunpoint to prevent them from mobbing the runway.
As evacuation was in progress, members of Company A, 1/46, who insisted on boarding the aircraft first, shoved Vietnamese dependents out of the way. As more Americal infantry tried to clamber into the outbound planes, the outraged Special Forces staff convinced the Air Force to start loading civilians onboard a C130, then watched as the civilians pushed children and
weaker adults aside.
The crew of the U.S. Air Force C130 aircraft (serial #60-0297) consisted of Maj. Bernard Bucher, pilot; SSgt. Frank Hepler, flight engineer; Maj. John McElroy, navigator; 1Lt. Steven Moreland, co-pilot; George Long, load master; Capt. Warren Orr, passenger, and an undetermined number of Vietnamese civilians.
The aircraft reported receiving ground fire on takeoff. The Forward Air Control (FAC) in the area reported that the aircraft exploded in mid-air and crashed in a fire ball about one mile from camp. All crew and passengers were believed dead, as the plane burned quickly and was completely destroyed except for the tail boom. No remains were recovered from the aircraft.
Capt. Orr was not positively identified by U.S. personnel as being aboard the aircraft. He was last seen near the aircraft helping the civilians to board. However, a Vietnamese stated that he had seen Capt. Orr board the aircraft and later positively identified him from a photograph. Rescue efforts were impossible because of the hostile threat in the area.
At the time the order was given to escape and evade, SP4 Julius Long was was with Coen and Simpson. All three had been wounded, and were trying to make their way back to the airfield about 350 yards away. As they reached the airfield, they saw the last C130 departing. PFC Coen, who was shot in the stomach, panicked and started running and shooting his weapon at random. SP4 Long tried to catch him, but could not, and did not see PFC Coen again. Long then carried Sgt. Simpson to a nearby hill, where they spent the night.
During the night, the airfield was strafed and bombed by U.S. aircraft. SP4 Long was hit twice in the back by fragments, and Sgt. Simpson died during the night. SP4 Long left him lying on the hill near the Cam Duc airfield and started his escape and evasion toward Chu Lai, South Vietnam. SP4 Long was captured and was released in 1973 from North Vietnam.
The Special Forces command group was the last organized group out of the camp. As their helicopter soared into the clouds, Kham Duc was abandoned to advancing NVA infantry at 4:33 p.m. on May 12, 1968. The last Special Forces camp on the northwestern frontier of South Vietnam had been destroyed.
Two search and recovery operations were conducted in the vicinity of OP1 and OP2 and the Cam Duc airfield on July 18, 1970 and August 17, 1970. In these operations, remains of personnel previously reported missing from this incident were recovered and subsequently identified. (SP4 Bowers, PFC Lloyd,
Sgt. Sisk, PFC Guzman-Rios and SSgt. Carter). However, extensive search and excavation could not be completed at OP1 and OP2 because of the tactical situation.
It was assumed that all the missing at Kham Duc were killed in action until about 1983, when the father of one of the men missing discovered a Marine Corps document which indicated that four of the men had been taken prisoner. The document listed the four by name. Until then, the families had not been advised of the possibility there were any American prisoners taken other
than Julius Long. A Vietnamese rallier identified the photograph of Roy C. Williams as positively having been a POW.
Until proof is obtained that the rest of the men lost at Ngok Tavak and Kham Duc are dead, their families will always wonder if they are among those said to still be alive in Southeast Asia.
P.O.W. NETWORK
http://www.pownetwork.org/bios/m/m419.htm
CPTAUSRET
08-10-2005, 13:06
Sobering read.
I am glad they made it home.
Terry
Many here can appreciate the beauty in this recent AP story. And our Thanks to those who work so hard to make this possible
Amen.
Welcome home Warriors, may you Rest in Peace.
Welcome home, gentlemen.
And a huge thank you to all who work to bring our guys and gals home. I hope you understand how comforting it is to the families just to know you are out there doing this.
CoLawman
08-10-2005, 21:42
RIP At Home Men!
Thanks for the post TS! I concur it was very sobering.
Welcome back......... RIP
Welcome home warriors; thank you for your service.
jasonglh
09-03-2005, 10:08
Donnie Mitchell's family finds closure
By LaMar Bryan
Messenger Managing Editor
Sunday, August 28, 2005
By all accounts, the small battlefield near the Vietnam-Laos border fit the definition of hell on earth.
U.S. troops and allies fended off North Vietnamese attackers, who shot down helicopters and threatened to overrun the hillside outpost called Ngok Tavak.
Throughout the 10 hours of fierce fighting, commanders sensed disaster looming. They authorized an evacuation after reinforcements didn’t arrive.
When guns silenced, the casualty list included more than two dozen Americans unaccounted for at two camps some five miles apart. The government later categorized most of these GIs as dead, though their bodies were never recovered.
One of those missing in action was Marine Lance Cpl. Donnie Mitchell, 20, of nearby Princeton.
The young Marine’s father, Herman Mitchell, mostly accepted the military’s explanation that Donnie had died in combat on May 10, 1968. Conflicting stories, however, made it difficult to extinguish all doubts about his son’s fate.
The most persistent report claimed Donnie served on a team sent back to scout for a medic left behind when troops hurriedly pulled out of Ngok Tavak. Eleven members of the team became missing themselves – apparently killed by advancing enemy soldiers.
During an interview a dozen years ago, Herman Mitchell held little hope that his son would miraculously walk through the front door one day. Yet, his soul ached for the opportunity to give Donnie a proper burial and to embrace the closure that would come with that final act of civility.
Thirty-seven springs passed and still the Mitchell family waited. They bought a headstone and set aside a burial site in the family’s cemetery plot.
During this period, Elvis died and the Rolling Stones grew old. Mankind set foot on the moon and cloned any number of animals. The Cold War ended and new wars arose. And the U.S. resumed diplomatic ties with Vietnam.
This thawing of relationships fostered opportunities for joint U.S.-Vietnam teams to search old crash sites and battlefields for MIA remains.
The Mitchells started hearing more frequently from military officials, who provided periodic updates on recovery efforts.
Some veterans groups, never forgetting the unusually large number of MIAs at Ngok Tavak and Kham Duc, urged the government to give those former camps high priority. The dangerous tactical situation made it impractical to conduct a proper recovery operation in that region during the final years of the Vietnam War.
Herman Mitchell died in 1998 with many questions left unanswered. It was the same year his daughter, Brenda Scott, submitted a DNA sample for labs to use in comparison with any bone fragments recovered.
The search for the missing troops advanced in painstakingly slow fashion. It was much like pulling a folder out of the unsolved mysteries bin from the 1960s and starting anew to piece together leads.
Investigators reviewed after-action reports and interviewed American and Vietnamese veterans who fought in the battle. They also sought out villagers to help pinpoint areas for excavation.
What searchers uncovered ranged from belt buckles and buttons to pieces of combat boots and bone fragments. It would require years to sort out the evidence and complete forensic analysis.
Scott said she knew this summer that the government was close to releasing its findings. She recalls the warm tears streaming down her checks while reading an e-mail saying some of Donnie’s bone fragments had been positively identified.
A team of Marine representatives met with the Mitchells in July to present two bound volumes of evidence, compiled by a military lab and reviewed by three independent labs. In addition to Donnie, technicians had identified 11 other Americans missing from Ngok Tavak.
The family learned that Donnie died at the beginning of the battle rather than with the lost team.
“The guys that survived were very lucky they made it out alive,” Scott said. “There was no way they could get the remains out.”
Scott said family members have received numerous calls in recent weeks from the media, well-wishers and groups like Rolling Thunder, which has helped focus attention on POWs-MIAs.
“It’s just amazing there is so much interest from people who don’t even know Donnie,” she said.
The Mitchells buried the Princeton Marine this weekend next to his great-grandfather. One of the guys from his unit attended the funeral, as well as an official delegation from the military.
Additional bone fragments recovered during the excavations likely belong to Donnie, but the lab couldn’t make a conclusive determination. They will be placed in a mass grave, along with remains from seven of his comrades, at Arlington National Cemetery in October.
This closure is what the family had hoped for all of those years. It’s what Donnie would have expected, that his nation would never give up on bringing him home.
Semper Fidelis.
sharkmanII
09-05-2005, 07:43
Welcome home brothers. May you NOW rest in peace.
Welcome home brothers. May you NOW rest in peace.
Sharkman, I think they can now rest in peace, knowing their love ones have closure. I pray their loves ones can find peace and solice in knowing that their warriors are home.
Adding the link here, Maj. Frederick J. Ransbottom and Staff Sgt. William E. Skivington Jr are listed within post 5 of this thread.
Never Forgotten
Welcome home
DefenseLink (http://www.defenselink.mil/Releases/Release.aspx?ReleaseID=10315)
The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of two U.S. servicemen, missing in action from the Vietnam War, have been identified and will be returned to their families for burial with full military honors.
They are Maj. Frederick J. Ransbottom, of Oklahoma City, Okla.; and Staff Sgt. William E. Skivington Jr.; of Las Vegas, Nev.; both U.S. Army. Ransbottom will be buried in Edmond, Okla. on Jan. 13, and Skivington will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C., on Jan. 23.
Representatives from the Army met with the next-of-kin of these men to explain the recovery and identification process, and to coordinate interment with military honors on behalf of the Secretary of the Army.
On May 12, 1968, North Vietnamese forces overran the Kham Duc Special Forces camp and its surrounding observation posts in Quang Nam-Da Nang Province (formerly Quang Tin Province), South Vietnam. Ransbottom and Skivington were two of the 17 U.S. servicemen unaccounted-for after the survivors evacuated the camp. Search and recovery efforts at the site in 1970 succeeded in recovering remains of five of the 17 men. A sixth man was returned alive during Operation Homecoming in 1973 after having been captured and held prisoner of war by the North Vietnamese.
Between 1993 and 2006, joint U.S./Socialist Republic of Vietnam teams, led by the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC), conducted eight investigations and four excavations in the vicinity of the camp site. The team interviewed former North Vietnamese officers and soldiers who participated in the battle. Some recalled seeing the bodies of U.S. servicemen near one of the observation posts, and U.S. eyewitness accounts placed Ransbottom and Skivington near the post.
During an excavation conducted in 1998, two U.S. servicemen who survived the battle accompanied JPAC to help locate the observation posts, but found no evidence of human remains. Later excavations conducted in the area yielded human remains, identification media and personal effects for Ransbottom, Skivington and several other soldiers.
Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from JPAC also used dental comparisons in the identification of the remains.
Welcome Home and Rest In Peace, Warriors.
Goggles Pizano
12-22-2006, 20:35
Welcome home men. Rest in peace.
Buffalobob
12-31-2006, 21:34
I was the platoon Leader for Echo Recon 2/1 for most of 1971. My predecessor was killed up on the DMZ one night. His predecessor was killed near Baldy and his predecessor was killed in a night ambush site when his ambush got ambushed.
Lt Ransbottom was the one before that (to my knowledge). Only one of the five of us made it home alive. Being Recon Plt Ldr was not a easy job. My freind who left 10th SFG with me and went to RVN became the Recon Plt Ldr for my sister unit, 1/46, and he went home alive but shot up. We might have been fighting a losing war but we gave it a good try.
This is what I know from my home unit forum -196th Inf Brigade.
KHAM DUC: Mrs Ransbottom has picked 13 Jan 2007 1:00 pm at the Henderson Hills Church ,in Edmund OK.for her son's burial. Lt. Ransbottom's remains were recently returned from OP-2 at Kham Duc where they have been since 12 may 1968 , Mother's Day. He was the Plt Ldr of the Reconn Plt manning OP's at Kham Duc and they were overrun. He was in "E" Co. 2/1st Inf. Skip Skivington's, from same OP-2 bunker, remains were also returned and an Arlington burial is planned ,,but no firm date yet. "God Bless the Infantry",,, and their families
Bill Schneider
Bull Town, Mo USA - Wednesday, December 06, 2006 at 14:49:43 (EST)
Buffalobob
01-23-2007, 13:42
SSGT Skivington's service at Arlington was today. When they placed the casket at the gravesite the sun came out for the first time in several days.
x SF med
01-23-2007, 13:44
Peace to you my brothers - Rest Well, you are home again.
The Reaper
01-23-2007, 13:56
RIP, brother.
Is that a Dress Blue Pile Cap, or do my eyes deceive me?
Never seen one of them before.
Casket, can you verify?
TR
RIP, brother.
Is that a Dress Blue Pile Cap, or do my eyes deceive me?
Never seen one of them before.
Casket, can you verify?
TR
AR-670-1
20-10 Items normally worn with the Army blue uniform
27-5. Cap, cold weather, AG shade 489
a. Type. The cold-weather cap is an optional purchase item.
b. Description. The cap is made of AG shade 489 fabric with a black synthetic fur visor and side flaps. Snap fasteners are attached to hold the visor and flaps in the up position. An eyelet in the center of the front visor is provided to center and attach headgear insignia. Because of the thickness of the fur pile, headgear insignia worn on the cap must have a center post and screw. Therefore, all soldiers will wear the male headgear insignia on the cold-weather cap
c. How worn. The cap is worn straight on the head so that the headgear insignia is centered on the forehead. No hair will be visible on the forehead. The side flaps are fastened under the chin when the flaps are worn down. The cap is authorized for wear when wearing the black windbreaker with the class B uniform and with the black all-weather coat with service, dress, mess, hospital duty, and food service uniforms. It is not authorized for wear when the black pullover or cardigan sweaters are worn as outer garments with the class B uniform.
Your eyes didn't lie.
Buffalobob
01-23-2007, 14:41
Reaper
They all had them on and they looked like "issue".
There were about 6-8 people who appeared to be from SFA XI but I only pay my dues and never go to any of the meetings so I do not know who they were except like me they were either grey headed or bald.
Anyone who is from the DC metro area may can see it on News Channel 8.
LibraryLady
01-23-2007, 21:31
Welcome home. It's good to have you back.
LL
spiceygoggles28
12-12-2009, 13:17
Thought I might add a few tid-bits about Ngok Tavak.
1. Headquarters did not want us to leave the camp. Capt. White was
requesting help all morning. Their reply every time was that help was on
the way and to hold on.
2. The only help that made it into the camp, were three SF (one commo &
two medics) that came in on a huey at 05:30AM. About forty-five indig and
a SF Capt came in a later, when it was thought to be a little safer to
land. Two of the four CH-46s that were bringing them in, were shot down
as they were about to land. This filled the LZ and meant that we were not
going to get any help by choppers. We were still being told to hold.
3. At the same time, Kham Duc was being surrounded and losing OP's. They
were having their on problems. Still, we were being told to hold on.
4. I guess they wanted us to hold on, because the NVA were no longer trying
to hide and our air support was having a field day killing them. God Bless
our air support.
5. I can't speak for everyone else, but this is about this time that I started
making deals with GOD.
6. At 12:00PM Capt White informed our Deputy Commander, who was
overhead in a huey, that we would be leaving the camp at 01:00PM.
He told Capt White that he better be glad that he was an Australian.
7. The HEROES that day were the men of Dust-off 55 (Double Nickle). They
took out appox. sixty of the wounded that day. We were getting men
wounded all morning and they kept coming in, in-spite of the heavy fire.
God Bless the men of Double Nickle. Had they not picked-up our wounded,
we would have stayed at Ngok Tavak and made our Deputy Commander
happy. By the way, the pilot of Double Nickle was, now retired Major
General Patrick Henry Brady MOH. In my opinion he should have received it
for what he did for all of us.
8. All of our KIA's occurred before we left camp and not going back to look for
anyone left behind.
9. The question that gets asked all the time is "Why did y'all leave the KIA's?
Between the American KIA's and the indig KIA's, there were
more of them than there was of us to carry. Keep in mind, this was an E&E,
not a stroll in the park.
10. None of us had any idea how Perry became MIA. (and still don't)
This isn't the whole story, by no means. I'm sure everyone who was there
has his own. This is just some of mine.
Jack D.
05B4S
Det-B16
1st Mobile Strike Force, DaNang
There is a nice book out about the "Airpower and the Airlift Evacuation of Kham Duc. "USAF Southeast Asia Momgraph Series, Volume 5 Momograph 7.
It talks about one pilot talking to a C130 pilot telling him to get the hell out of there, we don't own it anymore Charlie does.
Red Flag 1
01-03-2010, 17:15
Rest In God's Peace !!