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Information on U.S. Army helicopter UH-1D tail number 66-16282
Date: 02/19/68 MIA-POW file reference number: 1054
Incident number: 68021942.KIA
Unit: 57 AHC
Laos
UTM grid coordinates: YB665498
Casualties = 03 BNR, 01 DIN, 02 W . .
Original source(s) and document(s) from which the incident was created or updated: Defense Intelligence Agency Reference Notes. Defense Intelligence Agency Helicopter Loss database. Also: 1054, SOG Vol III by Saal P:237+ , SOG by Plaster P:200+ ()
Summary: Shot down and crashed during Recon Team extraction. SSG Zabitosky won the Medal of Honor for rescuing the pilots.
Loss to Inventory
Crew: DYE,MELVIN C; GLOVER DJ GRIFFITH RS
Crew Members:
P WO1 COOK JOHN W KIA
CE SSG DYE MELVIN CARNILLS BNR
G SSG GRIFFITH ROBERT SMITH BNR
AC CPT GRIFFITH R WIA
Passengers:
SFC GLOVER DOUGLAS J, AR, PX, BNR; SSG Zabitosky Fred W, AR, PX, WIA;
REFNO Synopsis:
SYNOPSIS: Melvin Dye was the engineer and Robert Griffith the door gunner aboard a UH-1H helicopter performing an emergency extraction mission in Laos. They were extracting a reconnaissance patrol team consisting of three U.S. Army Special Forces personnel and three indigenous personnel. The aircraft carried a crew of four. Douglas Glover was one of the Special Forces personnel aboard. As the helicopter picked up the team four miles inside Laos west of Dak Sut, it received a heavy volume of small arms fire. It is not known whether the aircraft was hit by hostile fire or hit a tree, but it nosed over, impacted the ground and exploded, bursting into flames. The pilot, co-pilot WO Cook and one passenger Special Forces Sergeant Fred W. Zabitosky managed to leave the aircraft. Because of the fire and exploding small arms ammunition, rescue attempts for the others were futile. Cook died later in Japan from burns. Zabitosky was awarded the Medal of Honor. See Zabitosky's story in Vietnam magazine February 1996. There were six U.S. and three indigenous personnel aboard the helicopter. When search teams reached the site the same day, they could not account for the other U.S. personnel. Five were accounted for, but could not be recovered because of intense heat
War Story:
Special Forces Staff Sergeant Fred W. Zabitosky was at the end of a normal six-month active mission cycle with FOB 2 based at Kontum. He was the One-Zero, team leader, of RT Maine but on this mission was helping SSG Glover become the new team leader, so 'Zab' was the One-One, assistant team leader. On 18 Feb., RT Maine was inserted into 'The Bra,' the river curve where Highway 110 split eastward from Highway 96, the Ho Chi Minh Trail's major north-south route. Their mission was to learn whether the NVA were pulling back, reinforcing or resupplying their Tet offensive activities in the Central Highlands. Not long after their insertion, they made and broke contact. There were at least two other RTs active in this same area, so they had to wait their turn for airstrikes and worked their way back to the LZ. The NVA had set up 12.7mm guns around the LZ and the USAF Covey FAC could see at least four NVA companies converging on the LZ. The NVA launched two assaults on the nine-man team's position but were stopped by napalm, cannon fire, and the team's weapons. Covey had the team run 150 yards to an alternate LZ. The first slick lifted out one SF and two Yards which left Zab, Glover and four Yards still on the ground. The NVA then struck in four successive waves which were all stopped but the team was almost out of ammo. It was now or never. The second slick went in as gunships and jets blasted the area. Both the NVA and Maine seemed to be racing for the helicopter. The door gunners and the SOG men were shooting like mad. Zab recalls that the NVA were so close that blood from one he shot splatted the Huey. They were 75 feet up and almost clear of the LZ when an RPG blast rocked the Huey, spinning the tail boom into the main blades. Zab came to about 20 feet from the Huey and rolled clumsily on the ground to extinguish his burning clothes. The Huey had snapped in two just behind the pilots' section and burned furiously. The troop compartment lay on its side and Zab heard the final cries from the three Americans and four Yards in the burning wreckage. Zab moved away from the wreckage then looked back to see the pilots still strapped in the burning nose section. He returned, opened the door and grabbed the semiconscious WO Cook and pulled him out. Everything was burned off the man except his leather gun belt. The pilot was still inside. Zab could feel his flesh burning as he undid the pilot’s harness. The fuel cells exploded in the other section and blew both Zab and the pilot clear. Overhead SF medic Luke Nance had watched these events in horror but had seen Zab. The pilot made a couple of passes and confirmed there were survivors. This ship landed. Together Nance and Zab carried and dragged the two burned pilots to the Huey and they escaped. SSG Fred Zabitosky received the Medal of Honor for his actions that saved the lives of two 57th AHC pilots. Sadly, WO Cook passed away ten days later in Japan due to burn related injuries.
This record was last updated on 06/14/98
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