Name: CPT Derrill Lee Burnside
Status: Killed In Action from an incident on 05/03/1971 while performing the duty of Pilot.
Age at death: 31.8
Date of Birth: 08/02/1939
Home City: Kingman, AZ
Service: FA branch of the reserve component of the U.S. Army.
Unit: D/3/5 CAV
Prior Unit: HHC 5 MECH 71
Major organization: 5th Infantry Division
Flight class: 70-42
Service: FA branch of the U.S. Army.
The Wall location: 03W-023
Aircraft: OH-58A tail number 68-16782
Country: South Vietnam
MOS: 1981 = 19 Rotary Wing Aviator (Unit Commander)
Primary cause: Hostile Fire
Major attributing cause: aircraft connected not at sea
Compliment cause: small arms fire
Vehicle involved: helicopter
Position in vehicle: pilot
Vehicle ownership: government
Started Tour: 02/24/1971
"Official" listing: helicopter air casualty - pilot
The initial status of this person was: no previous report
Length of service: *
Location: Quang Tri Province I Corps.
Military grid coordinates of event: XD935512
Additional information about this casualty:
The newly appointed Scout Platoon Commander, Cpt Derrell Burnside was killed by small arms fire while on a visual recon east of Khe Sahn. The Scout AC, Cpt Marty Gronborg piloted the LOH to a successful landing and the UH-1 "Bagger"¥ chase evacuated Cpt Burnside, the wounded Crew Chief SPC4 Duffy and Cpt Marty Gronborg to the 18th Surgical Hospital in QT.
Reason: aircraft lost or crashed
Casualty type: Hostile - killed
married male U.S. citizen
Race: Caucasian
Religion: Baptist - other groups
Burial information: GREENWOOD MEMORIAL PARK, FORT WORTH, TX
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 08/05/2018
This information is available on CD-ROM.
Additional information is available on KIAs at http://www.coffeltdatabase.org
Please send additions or corrections to: The VHPA Webmaster Gary Roush.
KIA statistics
Return to the Helicopter Pilot KIA name list
Return to the KIA panel date index
Date posted on this site: 11/13/2023
Copyright © 1998 - 2023 Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Association