Pacific Stars and Stripes information
for 25 INF
For date 700423
25 INF was a US Army unit
Primary service involved, US Army
South Vietnam
Location, Saigon
Description: The following is an edited version of an article titled "Huey Helo Crash Kills 11, 1 Survives by SP4 Bill Toliber."
Saigon (S&S Staff Correspondent) - Eleven American soldiers died and one was injured Friday when their UH1 (Huey) helicopter hit a power line and crashed into the Dong Nai River 13 miles northeast of Saigon, the U.S. Command reported Tuesday. "We were about two-thirds of the way across the river when I heard two or three loud snapping noises or bursts," said S. Sgt. Daniel Ouellette, the long survivor. "I wondered what could be happening right in the middle of the river. Then the chopper started falling an jolting an that was the last I remembered until I woke up and found myself on a barge." Ouellette told his story to Pacific Stars and Stripes over the telephone from the 24th Evac. Hospital in Long Binh. He said an officer told him Tuesday that a Vietnamese villager in a sampan saw two or three people floating down the river at the scene of the crash but, though he tried to save all three, he was able to hang on to only one and drag him to shore. That was Ouellette. A U.S. Command spokesman said in Saigon Tuesday that the cause of the crash of the 25th Inf. Div. courier chopper under investigation. He said the announcement of the crash was delayed pending identification of the dead and notification of kin. "I don't know why it was me the villager picked to save," Ouellette said. "I was damned lucky." The 25th Inf. Div. sergeant said he was just returning to his unit from a special leave in the states. "There were three of us that weren't strapped in because the seat belts didn't match," he said. "I guess we just happened to be flushed out of the copter when it hit water." Ouellette talked as though he had gravel in his mouth. In the crash, he said, his partial plate had broken and cut up his mouth, requiring "a lot of stitches." Also he had "a lot of pulled muscles in my leg." Sources said that a massive day-and-night search for survivors was mounted by troops of B Co., 720th M.P. Bn., which is responsible for the area. Most of the bodies were recovered Sunday, they said. Monday morning Navy divers located the helicopter which by that time was buried in river silt. A crane lifted out the helicopter which had three bodies in it and the search concluded Monday afternoon. "I could never again hold anything against the Vietnamese," said Ouellette. "These people are more considerate of other people that we are of our own." On the flight back from the States he said he met one of his buddies that he used to drink with in Cu Chi. "When we landed, he said, 'why don't we go right up to Cu Chi?' and so we caught the copter, but we never made it."
Comments: SSG Ouellette, Daniel; ; ;
The source for this information was 7004pss.avn supplied by Les Hines 02/02/2000
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Last updated
02/03/2000
Date posted on this site:
05/13/2023