Information on U.S. Army helicopter OH-58A tail number 69-16136
The Army purchased this helicopter 0670
Total flight hours at this point: 00000298
Date: 03/24/1971 MIA-POW file reference number: 1735
Incident number: 71032437.KIA
Unit: D/3/5 CAV
This was a Combat incident. This helicopter was LOSS TO INVENTORY
This was a Recon mission for Unarmed Recon
While in Operations Area this helicopter was Unknown at 0050 feet and 050 knots.
South Vietnam
UTM grid coordinates: XD668543 (To see this location on a map, go to https://legallandconverter.com/p50.html and search on Grid Reference 48QXD668543)
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. (12.7MM)
Systems damaged were: PERSONNEL
Casualties = 02 DOI, 01 INJ . .
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: 1735, LNNF,
FM386, CASRP (Lindenmuth New Format Data Base. Casualty Report. )
Loss to Inventory
Crew Members:
P W2 JP ROSS RES
CE SP4 NEAL WILLIAM EDWARD KIA
G SGT BECKWITH HARRY MEDFOR III BNR
REFNO Synopsis:
SYNOPSIS: LAM SON 719 was a large offensive operation against NVA communications lines in Laos. The operation called for ARVN troops to drive west from Khe Sanh, cut the Ho Chi Minh Trail, seize Tchpone and return to Vietnam. The ARVN would provide and command the ground forces, while U.S. Army and Air Force would furnish aviation airlift and supporting firepower. The 101st Airborne Division commanded all U.S. Army aviation units in direct support of the operation. Most of the first part of the operation, begun January 30, 1971, was called Operation DEWEY CANYON II, and was conducted by U.S. ground forces in Vietnam.
The ARVN were halfway on February 11 and positioned for the attack across the Laotian border. On 8 February, ARVN began to push into Laos. The NVA reacted fiercely, but the ARVN held its positions supported by U.S. airstrikes and resupply runs by Army helicopters.
President Nguyen Van Thieu ordered a helicopter assault on Tchepone, and the abandoned village was seized March 6. Two weeks of hard combat were necessary for the ARVN task force to fight its way back to Vietnam.
On March 24, a OH58A light observation helicopter (serial #69-16136) was lost near the border of South Vietnam and Laos in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam. The aircraft, flown by CW2 James P. Ross, was departing from its squadron forward command post at Ham Nhi for a visual reconnaissance mission. Onboard the aircraft were Sgt. Harry M. Beckwith III, the door gunner, and SP4 William E. Neal, crew member.
Shortly after takeoff, the aircraft was hit by enemy automatic ground-to-air fire and crashed in enemy surrounded area. Within minutes, the aircraft exploded and burned. A UH1 helicopter was sent immediately to the crash site, and a team of aero-rifle platoon members was inserted to secure the area and to rescue any survivors.
Once on the ground, the infantrymen encountered heavy enemy fire, but were able to secure the aircraft. They found CW2 Ross near the aircraft, and he indicated to Sgt. Somora, section leader of the rifle platoon, that both the other crew members were dead, and that nothing could be done to help them due to the enemy in the area and the extent of the aircraft fire.
A total search of the area was not made. The remains of two crewmen were put into an extraction helicopter by infantrymen of the 101st Airborne Division. After takeoff, another helicopter came into the landing zone about 100 meters behind the body-carrying helicopter. Before he could land, he saw something fall out of the departing helicopter, which turned out to be Sgt. Beckwith's body, wrapped in a poncho liner.
The chase helicopter, a Cobra, swept in and attempted to get a location of where the body had fallen, but because of the distance, and the fact that the poncho liner color blended with the terrain and foliage, no definite fix could be obtained. The pilot of the chase Cobra reported that he saw ashes and a floppy poncho liner, indicating that there was almost nothing in it, fall from approximately 1150 feet.
Searches during the next two days were unsuccessful. On April 7, 1971, another visual search flight was made over the area of the incident, but with no results. It was concluded that because of the wind conditions, the lightness of the poncho liner, and the fact that it had literally become part of the terrain, further attempts would be futile.
[Note: A Michigan newspaper published a brief account of Beckwith's loss in about 1986. This account stated that Beckwith had been aboard an observation helicopter when it was hit by rifle fire from Viet Cong guerrillas hiding in nearby trees. It further stated that Beckwith was shot running across a rice paddy in the Mekong Delta, and that his pilot was also shot, but escaped and was rescued. The Michigan story appears to be accurate except for Beckwith running across a rice paddy in the Mekong Delta. All military data indicate that Beckwith was lost in Quang Tri Province. As the Mekong Delta is some 350 miles south of Quang Tri Province, the "running across a rice paddy in the Mekong Delta" portion of the Michigan story must be discounted as inaccurate.]
Losses were heavy in Lam Son 719. The ARVN lost almost 50% of their force. U.S. aviation units lost 168 helicopters; another 618 were damaged. Fifty-five aircrewmen were killed, 178 wounded, and 34 missing in action in the entire operation, lasting until April 6, 1971.
Harry Beckwith came from a military family and planned a career in the Army. His father, Army Sgt. Major Harry M. Beckwith, Jr., was stationed in Saigon when his son was lost in 1971 on his third tour of Vietnam.
While a tank commander at Cu Chi in 1968, Harry Beckwith was awarded the Silver Star for rescuing, despite his own serious injuries, three others pinned under a tank during an armored attack.
Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 01 September 1990 from one or more of the following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews.
War Story:
Jim Ross survived shoot down and crash. The observer and gunner were killed by .51 cal and Ross had broken back and foot. He spent about a year in the hospital recovering. from Russ Whipple, July 1996.
This record was last updated on 05/25/1998
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