More detail on this person: My father, Robert
W. Barber, USMC, served two tours in Vietnam as
a helicopter pilot (HMM-161). He retired as a MAJ
and is interred at Arlington National Cemetery (27
May 1935-15 January 1978). Burial information: Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, VA
This information was last updated 05/18/2016
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Date posted on this site:
03/10/2024
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My father's tour dates were approximately
1964-1965 and 1968-1969. I know one location was
DaNang but I do not remember the other. I believe
on one tour he flew the CH-46 (Chinook) but a
different helicopter on his other tour. My
brother would probably know more but is not
available at this time, but if you have any
questions, I will refer them to him.
We were living in Corvallis, Oregon. He was
killed in a small plane crash near Medford, Oregon
while getting ready to take the Oregon bar exam.
He went to law school after he retired and was
licensed in New York and California, but wanted to
move to Oregon, so we did.
Essentially the recently installed and put into
operation Sam's Valley beacon gave false passages
and directed him into the side of the mountain.
All kinds of misconduct by Medford tower,
including not telling him the beacon was giving
false passages 45 minutes earlier and canceling
his IFR flight plan. We were not sorry when
Reagan fired the controllers shortly thereafter!
From: Robin J. Barber, Lieutenant, USCGR