Information on U.S. Marine Corps helicopter CH-46A tail number 152501
Date: 06/30/1967 MIA-POW file reference number: 0746
Incident number: 67063013.KIA
Unit: HMM-265
This was a Combat incident. This helicopter was LOSS TO INVENTORY
for Air/land Assault , Hot Area.
While on Landing Zone this helicopter was Landing at 0100 feet and UNK knots.
The station for this helicopter was Thua Thien in South Vietnam
UTM grid coordinates: YC892958 (To see this location on a map, go to https://legallandconverter.com/p50.html and search on Grid Reference 48QYC892958)
Count of hits was not possible because the helicopter burned or exploded.
Small Arms/Automatic Weapons; Gun launched non-explosive ballistic projectiles less than 20 mm in size. (14.5MM)
The helicopter was hit in the Fuselage causing a Fire.
Systems damaged were: PERSONNEL
Casualties = YES . .
The helicopter Crashed. Aircraft Destroyed.
Both mission and flight capability were terminated.
Burned
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.
Survivability/Vulnerability Information Analysis Center Helicopter database. Also: 0746, LNOF,
70409, MISC, JSIDR, TWIX, NSC KIA MGL (Naval Safety Center. Miscellaneous. Lindenmuth Old
Format Data Base. Joint Services Incident Damage Report. )
Loss to Inventory
Crew Members:
P CPT HOUSE JOHN ALEXANDER II RR
P 1LT PITTMAN TED R
LCP MICHAELSON JAMES A
LCP SMITH GARY L
Passengers and/or other participants:
LCP ALLEN MERLIN RAYE, MC, PAX, BNR
LCP KILLEN JOHN DEWEY III, MC, PAX, RR
HM3 JUDD MICHAEL BARRY, NA, PAX, BNR
CPL RUNNELS GLYN LINAL JR, MC,PAX, RR
LCP PERRY DENNIS MITCHELL, MC, PAX, KIA
REFNO Synopsis:
ALLEN, MERLIN RAYE
Name: Merlin Raye Allen
Rank/Branch: E3/USMC
Unit: A Company, 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion, 3rd Marine Division
Date of Birth: 22 October 1946
Home City of Record: Bayfield WI
Date of Loss: 30 June 1967
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 161349N 1074301E (YC896956)
Status (in 1973): Killed/Body Not Recovered
Category: 3
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: CH46A
Other Personnel In Incident: John House; Michael Judd; John Killen; Glyn Runnels
(all still missing)
Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 01 April 1990 from one or more of the
following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with
POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews.
REMARKS: DED/CRSH BRN/SOM RECOV/NT SUBJ
SYNOPSIS: Capt. John A. House was the pilot of an CH46A helicopter carrying
personnel assigned to Company A, 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion, 3rd Marine
Division near the city of Phu Bai, South Vietnam on June 30, 1967.
Among the passengers onboard the aircraft were members of Company A, LCpl.
Merlin R. Allen, LCpl. John D. Killen, and Cpl. Glyn L. Runnels. Also onboard
was the company's hospital corpsman, Petty Officer Third Class Michael B. Judd.
The aircraft was hit by small arms fire, exploded and crashed. Although some of
the personnel aboard survived, House, Allen, Judd, and Killen were never found,
nor were remains recovered that could be identified as theirs. The four men were
listed as killed in action, body not recovered.
Nearly 2500 Americans did not return from Southeast Asia at the end of the war.
Some, like the pilot and passengers of the CH46, are probably dead and will
never come home. Since the end of the war, however, thousands of refugee reports
have been received that indicate hundreds of Americans are still alive, held
captive.
It is a matter of pride in the Marine Corps that one's comrades are never left
on the field of battle to fall into the hands of the enemy. One can imagine that
these men, had they survived, would willingly go one more mission for the return
of those who still await rescue.
Although
some of the personnel aboard survived, House was never found, nor
were remains recovered that could be identified as his. He was
listed as killed in action, body not recovered.
War Story:
Helicopter was struck by hostile file while trying to insert an eight man recon team named NETTLERASH TWO - four of them survived (one died of wounds later).
This record was last updated on 10/02/2018
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Date posted on this site: 11/13/2023
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