More detail on this person: Major Larry L. Bagwell and another Marine were killed when their
CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter crashed after departing Marine Corps Air Facility Santa Ana, CA. He was
assigned to Marine Medium Helicopter Training Squadron 301 (HMMT-301) when his plane crashed
during routine night mission training near Hidden Ranch in Black Star Canyon. The other Marine to
perish in the accident was Corporal Gale D. Abrams. Burial information: Arlington Memory Gardens, Oklahoma City, OK
This information was last updated 06/02/2017
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Date posted on this site:
01/11/2025
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Burial: Arlington Memory Gardens, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma County, Oklahoma, USA
MAJ Bagwell was killed while flying as an instructor pilot for HMMT-302 in Tustin California in
1968. He was flying night instruction for a student pilot, 1stLt Bob Trigalet and Sgt Gale Abrams
was the duty Crew Chief. While he was flying over Black Star mountain, the helicopter lost the rear
fuselage section/rotor on a practice landing approach and Maj Bagwell attempted to regain control of
the aircraft but was killed when the front section impacted the mountain. Sgt Abrams was killed but
Lt. Trigalet survived with severe injuries. Lt Trigalet was killed in Vietnam one year later in
Vietnam in a mi-air collision.
I knew Maj Bagwell at the time - I was a sergeant and the squadron "grunt": I wasn't an airwinger
but since I was recovering from wounds I had received in Vietnam, the Corps put me there as the
"Duty runner/mail room NCO/machinegun instructor/platoon sergeant for the squadron. Maj Bagwell
used to come to my mailroom every day and ask if he had any mail. He never did, so I wrote him a
letter for him one time and he thought that it was great joke. He was fine leader.
Semper Fi, Forrest R. Lindsey, LtCol USMC (ret) ,