Information on U.S. Army helicopter OH-6A tail number 67-16390
The Army purchased this helicopter 1068
Total flight hours at this point: 00000242
Date: 12/30/1969
Incident number: 69123030.KIA
Unit: C/1/9 CAV 1 CAV
This was a Combat incident. This helicopter was LOSS TO INVENTORY
This was a Recon mission for Unarmed Recon
Unknown this helicopter was Unknown at UNK feet and UNK knots.
South Vietnam
UTM grid coordinates: YU232217 (To see this location on a map, go to https://legallandconverter.com/p50.html and search on Grid Reference 48PYU232217)
Helicopter took 1 hits from:
Small Arms/Automatic Weapons; Gun launched non-explosive ballistic projectiles less than 20 mm in size. (7.62MM)
Systems damaged were: PERSONNEL
Casualties = 02 DOI, 01 INJ . .
The helicopter Crashed. Aircraft Destroyed.
Both mission and flight capability were terminated.
Original source(s) and document(s) from which the incident was created or updated: Defense
Intelligence Agency Helicopter Loss database. Survivability/Vulnerability Information Analysis
Center Helicopter database. Also: OPERA, LNNF, CASRP (Operations Report. Lindenmuth New
Format Data Base. Casualty Report. )
Loss to Inventory
Crew Members:
OB SP5 SOMA THOMAS EDWARD KIA
G SGT DEAN JAMES ROBERT JR KIA
P WO1 HOGEBOOM EDWARD P RES
War Story:
Shot down by.51 cal. killing Soma and Dean. Pilot WO Edward Hogeboon was pulled from the burning aircraft by another C/1/9 LOH gunner while under fire. The rescuer jumped from very high hover through tall bamboo, low crawled to the crash site. He was too late to save Soma and Dean, but pulled Hogeboom to safety. Action won a Silver Star. This SGT had previously won a Silver Star during action in Korea. His pilot that day was LT Gordon Kappel. from Walker Jones, July 2002.
After mission report: December 30, 1969, Republic of South Vietnam, Binh Duong Province, III Corp.
Crew: Mission Observer: Spec-5 Thomas Edward Soma, KIA;
Crew Chief and Gunner: Sgt James Robert Dean, Jr., KIA;
Pilot: WO1 Edward Patrick Hogeboom, WIA.
Aircraft: OH-6A, Tail Number: 67-16390, Scout Helicopter of C Troop, 1 Squadron, 9th Calvary, Airmobile.
Narrative of CW2 Edward P. Hogeboom: We had returned to LZ Buttons after an earlier mission that morning for refueling. In the early afternoon our Pink Team (one Cobra gunship and one Light Observation Helicopter or LOH) was notified of a platoon of ARVN’s pinned down out towards the border by heavily armed adversaries (possibly NVA having come across the border from Cambodia). We normally would not fly support for ARVN’s, however they had two U.S. Army Advisors and one of the Advisors was seriously wounded.
My memory does not enable me to recall the name of the pilot of the Cobra, but I do recall it being the Gun Platoon Leader. His co-pilot was a 2nd Lieutenant. I do recall the pilot, a Captain, coming over to our LOH before we left Phouc Vinh early that morning and telling me that he had specifically chosen our LOH to cover that day due to all the action we had been involved in over recent days. His last statement to me before we took off was something to the effect of, I’m short and I need one more medal to make Major when I get back to the states.
When our Cobra received the request for our assistance, the pilot told us about the two advisors and we agreed that we should do what we could. We located the ARVN platoon pinned down in a bamboo forest. We hovered our LOH a few feet above them. They signaled that they were out of grenades. We dropped them all of our frags, concussion, and Willie Pete’s. We could see one G.I. on a litter.
Our Cobra told us to recon the area out ahead of the ARVN platoon and also find any area that could be used to extract them. At this point, we had received no fire, but were warned by the one G.I. Advisor via our Cobra that they had been taking light weapons and heavier automatic weapons fire as they tried to work their way out of the bamboo to a clear area.
We worked a grid out in front of their line of advance and saw signs of recent movement, but contacted no hostiles at that point. As we worked our way away from the ARVN platoon, but still in the direction they were moving, I was not able to determine how far we were out ahead due to our low altitude. Our Cobra pilot told me to keep sweeping ahead toward an open field.
Once we arrived at the field we surveyed it by flying low level down one side of it. I estimated it to be about 600 to 800 feet long and about 300 to 400 feet wide at the middle. The field had been recently burned off so that all the ground was charred and covered with the remains of burned bamboo.
I was on my second pass lengthwise down the side of the field when my Crew Chief, Jim Dean hit his mike and said, Hogie, I see gooks trying to set up a machine gun looks like a.51 cal. I relayed the message to our Cobra and he came back and said, if it’s not active yet and you can get a smoke on it, I’ll go hot right behind you, but if you think it’s active, you don’t want to mess with it.
I was not able to see it due to the massive charring of the entire field. Tom Soma, our Observer was looking across me and could not get a visual either and voiced his doubt that Dean had seen anything to start with. Jim Dean was adamant that he saw a.51 not yet set up and several gooks dressed in black pajamas scrambling around it and attempting to set it up.
At this point, I made a wide left hand turn away from the field and asked the Crew what it wanted to do. Soma said (paraphrasing), Take a run I don’t believe he sees what he thinks he sees. Dean was still convinced we could make the run and hit it with a smoke and get out.
At this point, let me say that I was the plane commander and I must take full responsibility for making the final decision. I came back around and told Dean to give me a 3,2,1 count to break into the field as I made one more run up the side. We were traveling at approximately sixty to sixty-five knots of airspeed.
He gave me the count and called break now. When I entered the open field for a couple of seconds it was quiet. Then in complete unison, five.51 cals. opened up on us from five different directions (they were in a pentagon arrangement I learned later). Those trying to set up the.51 that Jim Dean saw were local villagers that had been put in black pajamas and chained to a busted.51. The scrambling that Jim observed was apparently the locals trying to get away and avoid being shot by us.
We were being hit so hard with the heavy machine gun fire that I picked the weapon firing directly at the nose of our LOH and tried to fly directly down it’s barrel. What was probably only a few seconds seemed like an eternity to get across the field. I was screaming at our Cobra how bad we were getting hit the entire time. When our LOH made it across the field, we had a.30 cal open up on us as we got back over the bamboo and it severed our tail boom.
The nose dipped towards the ground and I came back on the cyclic to prevent going in nose first and we began to climb, but spinning faster and faster. As we spun, still climbing, we began taking more fire and ultimately our main rotor mast was severed. I’ve been told that the co-pilot of our Cobra estimated we were between 300 and 350 feet AGL when we lost our main rotor system.
I regained consciousness at some point after we crashed. I looked at Tom and he asked if I got the call off and I told him that I had (meaning that we were being hit and were going down). It was obvious that Tom was seriously injured, but with relatively little bleeding that I could see and I think this was due to the tracer rounds we took in the cockpit. I unbuckled and rolled out of my seat into several feet in depth of crushed bamboo. I immediately looked into the bay for Jim and he wasn’t there. All weapons, ammo, etc. was gone out of the bay. I stumbled through the hip deep bamboo to the engine area, because I could see smoke. The engine doors were gone, as was the entire tail section. There was a fire coming off the engine and I knew Soma was still strapped in his seat. I stepped back to see if my fire bottle at the side of my seat was there and it wasn’t, but somehow, as I stepped backwards in the bamboo, my boot caught on the fire bottle that was at least two feet down in the bamboo.
I retrieved the fire bottle and saw that it had taken a round and was spewing retardant out the top on it’s own. I held it over the fire on the engine, which went out just as the fire bottle ran out of retardant. I realized that my shoulder holster had been shot off and thrown out as we were spinning. I made it around to Tom’s side of the cockpit and asked him how he was doing (his injuries were significant but need no further description). He muttered that he was hanging in there. I could not get him out of his seat (and neither could the medics later and we all tried).
The only weapon available was Tom’s.45 in his belt holster. It was in pretty bad condition and I almost couldn’t get a round in the chamber. I popped the clip to see if it was full and it was damaged to such a degree it jammed as I tried to re-insert it in the handle of the weapon. Therefore, I had one round in the chamber and a jammed clip. I heard AK-47s being locked and loaded very near to my location with corresponding sounds of movement out in the standing bamboo within 50 feet of our location.
I lay down along side of Tom’s side of the Cockpit right next to him. I tried to get the best view possible of my perimeter, but it was limited to about 50%.
After lying there for several minutes I checked Tom again -- got no pulse and realized he had died. I was told later, his injuries probably caused him to lose consciousness and die from shock. I still did not know what had happened to Jim. I learned later that I lost him while going across the field, but that he died instantly.
I knew I would not be taken prisoner due to losses of crewmembers we had experienced in this area before. I continued to lie along side of Soma until another C Trp. Scout LOH came across my location. It was at this time that I realized, that we had been on the ground for an hour or more and there had been not one shot fired by our Cobra.
The LOH dropped me an emergency radio and began taking (I believe).30 cal fire. I began to call in the Cobra’s that had arrived on station and I’m not sure if, along the way, we might have picked up an Air Force fixed wing or two. At that point, the.30 cal. off in the bamboo not 40 yards away (estimated) was active and I could hear, but not see the.51’s firing repeatedly. I began to hear movement off to my forward right which was a little to the left of the.30 cal. The C Trp. LOH that had dropped me the emergency radio made a pass over me once again. I called to who ever was receiving my signal to continue to walk their ordinance right up to me, because I had movement by that time all around me. I also reminded those in C Trp. of our agreement not to let the sun set on a downed crew if they can’t be gotten out and cannot escape and evade.
Shortly after that, I had a Cobra come in from my twelve o’clock, low level, do a cyclic climb right above me, do a hammerhead…reversing direction of his aircraft and walking several rockets right back towards the back of our LOH. Even though I took shrapnel from the rockets, I found out a year later that it was Grover Wright flying the Cobra and he blew two NVA’ s off the back of our LOH. Grover and his co-pilot later took two.51 rounds in the side of their Cobra, lost their hydraulics, and had to crash land at a firebase.
I was later told that there were as many as thirteen Cobras in the Daisy Chain when everyone made it to our location. The Cobras, LOHs, and Medivac that arrived at our location all put it on the line that afternoon. However, as the sun drew nearer to the horizon, it was beginning to appear they wouldn’t be able to get us out.
Tom Soma died approximately 25 to 30 minutes after we went down. Jim Dean, from the condition of the LOH’s bay and the fact he had been thrown or blown out of the bay led me to think I’d lost him too. I could only hope that they were able to get the two Advisors and their ARVN platoon out somehow. I knew I had multiple injuries and had great difficulty moving around, but had no idea the level of their seriousness. There was a strange feeling in my gut and I had some light-headedness, but I thought it must be adrenaline…I later learned it was internal bleeding and shock. I saw a First Cav Medivac turned back by ground fire several times earlier that afternoon. I guessed I had been on the ground about 2 ½ to 3 hours by that time.
The sun would be setting within the next twenty minutes I guessed when a C Trp. LOH made a pass over me. I guessed it was to locate me one more time before they would vector the Cobra fire to my immediate location as per our mutual agreement. What I didn’t know was an E-8 known as Sarge, had taken it upon himself to jump from that LOH into the bamboo (which sliced him up pretty badly). Sarge had just been transferred in to C Trp and had taken over as our Line Sergeant when Sgt. Rajah had gone back to the world. The word we got was he was a lifer and had transferred in from a LRRP outfit of which he had been in country with for 3 ½ years. He had served in the Korean Conflict and was highly decorated at that time.
I had gotten along with him and knew him to be an excellent Line Sergeant, but didn’t really know him, personally, that well. My first realization that he had jumped from the LOH was when I heard a voice calling Jim Dean’s name. I didn’t know if they had Dean and were using his name off his flight suit or Dog Tags. It was not unheard of for some NVA to speak excellent English. Finally, I heard the voice say, Dean it’s Sarge, I need to come in! I called back, identified myself, and told Sarge to come on in.
I pulled myself up out of the bamboo where I had been lying and tried to move through the crushed down bamboo, around what was left of the nose of our aircraft. Sarge came out of the standing bamboo in front of me. He was carrying an M-16 and had a bandoleer of clips hung around his shoulders. His face and hands were bleeding and sliced up pretty badly from having jumped into the standing bamboo.
I was feeling the shock set in due to my loss of blood. As Sarge approached me, I looked at him (and I’ll never forget the exact words of our exchange) and said, You crazy son-of-a-bitch, we’re not getting out of here alive! He looked me straight in the eyes and replied (and John Wayne couldn’t have said it any better), Chief, I just couldn’t let you go by yourself!
As he began to visually set up a perimeter, I informed him that I had only one usable round in Soma’s .45 and, not realizing it, had it pointed at his midsection…he pushed the barrel of my weapon to the side. I think he knew I wasn’t going to be much help by this time. He told me that he had to low crawl under an active.30 cal to get in to me.
It was just moments later when I heard the blade pop of the approaching Medivac. It was dragging its skids through the top of the standing bamboo that surrounded us. The Medivac pilot did a quick-stop about ten yards to the rear of our fuselage. While at a hover, two Medics jumped out of the Huey and advanced towards us. I’m holding on to a section of what was left of the front of our LOH and signaling the Medics to help me get Soma out of the aircraft. They checked him and verified he was dead and told me we had to go right then. I asked them to try to get him out so we could take him with us.
They both attempted but realized it wasn’t doable due to the nature of his original injuries. They both grabbed me; one on each side and Sarge led us to the Medivac. They lifted me up into the bay and followed quickly behind me. The Medivac pilot exited the area as the sun was setting on the horizon.
The heroism exhibited that day by all who came to our rescue was beyond anything I’d ever witnessed. They all knew, to a man, when they arrived on station that they were going to be facing very heavy automatic weapons fire. With but one exception, no one held back. They all exhibited personal courage of the very highest traditions of the U.S. Army, but most especially, the very highest traditions of the U.S. Cavalry.
End of Narrative
Personal note: Two families lost two exceptional men on December 30, 1969 and I lost part of my soul. It remained forever with my comrades Jim Dean and Tom Soma. Even though we took a vote on whether or not to fly into that open field that day, the final decision, as pilot, was mine and I must take the responsibility for that decision. We were there to set up the extraction of a wounded G.I. and in the process lost two exceptionally fine Troopers. Soma flew with me occasionally. Dean and I were good friends and had graduated from Primary Flight School together. He was just recovering from injuries of an earlier crash he had been in and had come to my hooch the night before and asked me if I would bump the Crew Chief that was scheduled to fly with me and take him instead. He had been out of the daily action we experienced and felt a little shaky and wanted to fly with me on his first day back in the AO (Area of Operations). Little did either of us know the night before, the significance of his request. May God Bless Tom Soma and Jim Dean, Troopers in the truest sense and may God Bless America now and forever more!
Edward P. Hogeboom
Cav 16
"C" Troop, 1/9, AirCav
This record was last updated on 07/30/2002
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 KIA panel date index
Date posted on this site: 11/13/2023
Copyright © 1998 - 2023 Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Association