Name: 1LT Charles Richard Anderson
Status: Killed In Action from an incident on 03/03/1971 while performing the duty of Pilot.
Age at death: 24.6
Date of Birth: 08/02/1946
Home City: Newark, DE
Service: FA branch of the reserve component of the U.S. Army.
Unit: B/158 AVN 101 ABN
Major organization: 101st Airborne Division
Flight class: 70-22/70-6
Service: FA branch of the U.S. Army.
The Wall location: 04W-018
Short Summary: Main rottor hit head at LZ Lolo. AC was CW2 Catzklla class 70-7.
Aircraft: UH-1H
Country: Laos
MOS: 1981 = 19 Rotary Wing Aviator (Unit Commander)
Primary cause: Hostile Fire
Major attributing cause: aircraft connected not at sea
Compliment cause: vehicular accident
Vehicle involved: helicopter
Position in vehicle: pilot
Vehicle ownership: government
Started Tour: 09/08/1970
"Official" listing: helicopter air casualty - pilot
The initial status of this person was: no previous report
Length of service: *
Military grid coordinates of event: XD431372
Additional information about this casualty:
On March 3, 1971, during Operation Lam Son 719, several American aviation units combat assaulted a battalion of 1st Infantry ARVN troops into a landing zone (LZ) in Laos called Lolo. Their mission was to establish a fire-support base. During the lift, five U.S. helicopters were shot down. The fifth aircraft to be lost was a UH-1 Huey from B Company, 158th Assault Helicopter Battalion, the "Lancers." During the approach to the LZ, the Lancer crew chief, SP4 Paul A. Sgambati, received a serious head wound after being hit by an AK-47 round. He was unconscious when the helicopter went down and was evacuated that afternoon to the Evacuation Hospital in Quang Tri, but died soon thereafter. The Huey crashed after landing and discharging its ARVN troops. As the helicopter began to lift out of the LZ, an explosion occurred and it came crashing back down to the ground. Several sources claim a rocket-propelled grenade hit the helicopter. However, the enemy had bracketed the LZ, and 82mm mortar rounds were raining on the area. It also may be the reason it was destroyed by fire quicker than the other downed aircraft in the LZ. After the explosion occurred, the helicopter crashed back to earth, landing in some loose dirt where the front of the Huey dug in. As the crew egressed the aircraft, co-pilot 1LT Charles R. Anderson didn't take this into consideration. When he got out of the ship and started running towards a trench, he was hit in the head by the still spinning main rotor made lower by the soft earth. He was killed instantly. The ARVN covered his body with ponchos and had great difficulty moving him because of his size. A U.S. air crew was sent back into Lolo to get Anderson's body. The ARVN couldn't lift him, so two American crewmen went and helped get him into the ship. They took him to the Khe Sahn surgical pad. A sergeant came out with a litter to meet the aircraft. He motioned for two medical orderlies to come help him, and they took Anderson over to the side. He worked with the ponchos still covering Anderson for a few seconds, then stood up and slowly saluted the dead officer. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org, 174ahc.org, and thelancers.org]
Reason: aircraft lost or crashed
Casualty type: Hostile - killed
married male U.S. citizen
Race: Caucasian
Religion: Roman Catholic
Burial information: ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY, VA
The following information secondary, but may help in explaining this incident.
Category of casualty as defined by the Army: battle dead Category of personnel: active duty Army Military class: officer
This record was last updated on 01/07/2020
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Date posted on this site: 11/13/2023
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