Capt. Daniel Entrican - MAC V SOG - MIA

[koz]

Rest well Sir.

I went to school with Capt Entrican's nephew.

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http://dailyleader.com/topstories/ar...cc4c03286.html

"Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?' Then I said, ‘Here I am, Lord. Send me'" - Isaiah 6:8

Brookhaven's Capt. Daniel Day Entrican went missing in action in Vietnam in 1971, but there's still a table reserved for him at the head of the room.
The small table is covered with a white cloth, symbolizing the purity of his call to arms. A lone candle reminds of his solidarity in captivity, and its black ribbon symbolizes his loss. Entrican's glass is turned upside down because he isn't there to raise a toast with his friends.
His boots are polished and waiting on the floor.
"His chair is empty, he is not here," said Janet Sullivan, a liaison with the Military Order of the Purple Heart, as she concluded an MIA-POW ceremony for Entrican.
Sullivan's solemn tribute was the apex of a ceremony in Entrican's honor held Tuesday night at Brookhaven VFW Post 2618, the Daniel Day Entrican Post, 39 years to the day since the Special Forces commando was last seen trying to escape and evade the enemy in Vietnam. The Mississippi National Guard sent an honor guard for the fallen warrior, a team from the U.S. Army's 20th Special Forces Group came to pay their respects and more than 50 veterans, family and friends gathered in his remembrance.
Most importantly, the program gave comfort to Entrican's relatives, who have spent almost four decades wondering what happened to their brother. The VFW presented them with a plaque bearing Daniel Entrican's picture, information and many medals and awards.
"This is the first time anything like this has been done for Danny," said Brookhaven's Jenny Watson, Entrican's sister. "We all appreciate it so much, and he would have been real proud of it."
Watson, 66, is still waiting for complete closure. She and her sister, Jackson's Judy Kirkpatrick, 75, were briefed by the U.S. Department of Defense last year on the government's ongoing effort to recover the remains of servicemen listed as MIA from the Vietnam War, which began more than 45 years ago.
Watson is hopeful her missing brother's final fate can be ascertained. She still wears his MIA-POW bracelet.
"I don't want to take it off until we have complete closure," she said.
Brookhaven's Greg Entrican, 52, never quite knew his distant cousin, but he knows his heroics. He came to Tuesday night's ceremony to pay his respects to his kin and continue learning about Daniel Entrican's service.
"It makes me proud to be an American, and proud that I have family who gave it all," he said.
It was the impact Post 2618 Cmdr. Billy Hughes was hoping for when, months ago, he began planning Entrican's ceremony to officially dedicate the building that bears his name.
"What really struck me is how the family responded," he said. "It let them know people still care about those who gave everything they had for the country."
Entrican gave everything he had in the thick jungle on May 8, 1971, 39 years to the day before the ceremony in his honor.
He was a member of Recon Team Alaska, a highly skilled Special Forces group attached to the covert Military Assistance Command, Vietnam - Studies and Observation Group. Entrican's team was inserted into the Da Krong Valley on May 15, 1971, and was overwhelmed by North Vietnamese Army forces near the Laotian border two days later.
With squadmates killed and wounded, Entrican ordered the remainder of his force to move out while he held his ground. He was last seen on May 18, 1971, and sources reported the capture of an American in the vicinity on that date, though there's no way of knowing whether or not it was Entrican. Search and rescue attempts did not succeed.
In 1991, the U.S. Senate released the "Last Known Alive List" of more than 300 MIA-POWs believed to be alive in captivity. Entrican's name was on the list, though all have been declared deceased.
Lt. Col. (ret) Don Taylor of Crystal Springs delivered the keynote address at Entrican's ceremony, closing with a short story about a man crying at the Vietnam Wall in Washington, D.C. In the story, the man was asked, ‘Was one of them yours,' and he responded, ‘No, son, all of them are mine.'
"Capt. Entrican and all the rest are all ours, yours and mine, and will be so for all eternity," Taylor said.

[JJ_BPK]

RIP Warrior, Vaya con Dios..

[SF_BHT]

Rest in Peace........

[Richard]

Danny went through Infantry OCS in 1969. He graduated as a 2Lt on September 28, 1969. He then went through SFOC and graduated at the end of March 1970. He was then stationed at Fort Devens with the 10th SFG and then in Vietnam with the 5th SFG. He was assigned to A-236 at Bu Prang and then went through 1-0 school in late 1970. He was then assigned to RT Alaska, CCN, at Marble Mountain near Danang, which had been redesignated as TF1AE (Task Force One Advisory Element) at the time of RT Alaska's loss.

Pic is RT Alaska at MLS preparing to insert 1971 - Danny Entrican (back to camera) and Dale Dehnke (2nd from left with headband).

RIP.

[greenberetTFS]

Gone,but not forgotten.


www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wn_iz8z2AGw - Cached

God Bless,Rest in Peace Warrior.....

He was just a simple soldier and his ranks are growing thin
But his presence should remind us; we may need his like again,
For when countries are in conflict, then we find the soldier's part
Is to clean up all the troubles that the politicians start.
If we cannot do him honor while he's here to hear the praise,
Then at least let's give him homage at the ending of his days.......

Perhaps just a simple headline in the paper that might say:
OUR COUNTRY IS IN MOURNING, FOR A SOLDIER DIED TODAY. (author unknown)

The passing of our soldiers often go unnoticed and unsung by most of the world, remembered only by family and friends. Wish it were not so. May he RIP, his family will be in my thoughts and prayers.........

I realize it's a Canadian song,however I believe most appropriate for this occasion...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrkgV5bl7kQ

Big Teddy

[BigWave]

I had the honor of attending this ceremony for Captain Entrician. Unfortunately, Mrs. Kirkpatrick, his oldest sister, was unable to attend due to health issues, but I had the privilege of meeting the rest of his family. The family was grateful for the recognition given for Captain Entrician's sacrifice, but it was those of us in attendance who were indebted to them. The strength exhibited over their years of tribulation is immeasurable. Hopefully, someday, we can bring their Danny home to them once and for all. Until then, the Daniel Day Entrician VFW Post 2618 in Brookhaven, MS will always keep Captain Entrician in our hearts and minds. He is not forgotten.

Dave

[Oldrotorhead]

The co-pilot that died was a friend from flight school. Another year past but they are remembered.




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

1st Lt Danny D. Entrican, team leader;
SSG Dale W. Dehnke;
SP5 Gary L. Hollingsworth; and
three Nung troops.

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

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

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

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

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

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