BECK GREGORY GEORGE

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Name: CW2 Gregory George Beck
Status: Killed In Action from an incident on 05/18/1969 while performing the duty of Pilot.
Age at death: 24.2
Date of Birth: 03/14/1945
Home City: Fullerton, CA
Service: AV branch of the reserve component of the U.S. Army.
Unit: B/4 AVN 4 INF
Major organization: 4th Infantry Division
Flight class: 67-3/67-1
Service: AV branch of the U.S. Army.
The Wall location: 24W-036
Short Summary: Camp Enari under 122 rocket attack for 2nd night, WX turned bad crashed into Dragon Mountain while appr'g R/W 09 IFR at Camp Enari.
Aircraft: AH-1G tail number 67-15778
Call sign: GAMBLER
Service number: W3156105
Country: South Vietnam
MOS: 100E = Attack Helicopter Pilot
Primary cause: A/C Accident WX
Major attributing cause: aircraft connected not at sea
Compliment cause: unknown
Vehicle involved: helicopter
Position in vehicle: pilot
Started Tour: 12/16/1968
"Official" listing: helicopter air casualty - pilot
Length of service: 02
Location: Pleiku Province II Corps.

Additional information about this casualty:
The following is from the 9th VHPA reunion on Gregory George Beck: Camp Enari was under a 122 mm rocket attack for the second night in a row. CW2 Beck and an enlisted man front seat scrambled to suppress the attack. The weather turned bad and darkness fell. Beck crashed trying to return to base at Camp Enari. This is the same mission but different aircraft that killed WO1 James Casey.

Greg was my roommate. That night Greg was on standby flying his new Cobra. I was way down at the flightline helping my crew with a 100 hour inspection. The rockets and mortars started coming in and they were hitting way off on the north side of Camp Enari. The guns didnÆt go out for a while and finally Greg took off. We watched the him silence the enemy position out west of Camp Enari and listened to the whole thing on our radio. The ceiling was real low and we could hear him come around the traffic pattern turning West on final. He and went IFR. The last transmission we heard was he was switching over to Pleiku AFB for a GCA. We found out later, he had been assigned a brand new peter pilot. When the rockets started coming in, the peter pilot headed for the bunker rather than manning his ship. Greg tried to find him and finally put the crew chief in the front seat. When he went IFR he was pretty busy by himself and I believe the Cobra only had basic instruments at that time. He turned north toward Pleiku, thinking he was well East of Dragon Mountain. To my recollection, the peter pilot was immediately transferred to another unit. When I got in from flying the next day, all GregÆs belongings had been removed from our hootch.

If anyone has any information as to GregÆs relatives, Please let me know. He was a good friend, a good pilot, a good soldier. I have tried to locate them with no luck.

From: Bill Roberts, Lizard 7

Reason: aircraft lost or crashed
Casualty type: Non-hostile - died of other causes
married male U.S. citizen
Race: Caucasian
Religion: Roman Catholic
Burial information: GOOD SHEPHERD CEMETERY, HUNTINGTON BEACH, CA
The following information secondary, but may help in explaining this incident.
Category of casualty as defined by the Army: non-battle dead Category of personnel: active duty Army Military class: warrant officer
This record was last updated on 12/29/2008


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Date posted on this site: 11/13/2023


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