Name: 1LT William James Stephenson
Status: Killed In Action from an incident on 02/19/1966 while performing the duty of Pilot.
Died 4 days later on 02/23/1966.
Age at death: 24.7
Date of Birth: 06/06/1941
Home City: Bound Brook, NJ
Service: IN branch of the reserve component of the U.S. Army.
Unit: A/1/9 CAV 1 CAV
Major organization: 1st Cavalry Division
Service: IN branch of the U.S. Army.
The Wall location: 05E-069
Short Summary: Shot down by ground fire 19 Feb 66 with PFC Kenneth Wayne Lanter who died that day.
Aircraft: OH-13S tail number 63-09210
Service number: O5222654
Country: South Vietnam
MOS: 1981 = 19 Rotary Wing Aviator (Unit Commander)
Primary cause: A/C Accident
Major attributing cause: aircraft connected not at sea
Compliment cause: weapons
Vehicle involved: helicopter
Position in vehicle: pilot
Started Tour: 01/02/1966
"Official" listing: helicopter air casualty - pilot
Length of service: 02
Location: Unknown Province
Additional information about this casualty:
Cause of death was not an aircraft accident. He died from the 10 rounds from belt to his arm pit and one round to the head. He survived an inverted crash and lived until the 23rd of February 1966. I was on his left wing and saw it happen.
My scout observer has the application in now for the Medal of Honor for this action.
From: Jones R. Dula, CW4 Retired
Reason: aircraft lost or crashed
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Date posted on this site:
11/13/2023
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Casualty type: Hostile - died of wounds
married male U.S. citizen
Race: Caucasian
Religion: Roman Catholic
Burial information: BEVERLY NATIONAL CEMETERY, NJ
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 01/13/2019