Name: WO1 Eric Emanuel Bergquist
Status: Killed In Action from an incident on 07/27/1969 while performing the duty of Aircraft Commander.
Age at death: 23.5
Date of Birth: 01/15/1946
Home City: Houston, TX
Service: AV branch of the reserve component of the U.S. Army.
Unit: 57 AHC
Major organization: 1st Aviation Brigade
Flight class: 68-17
Service: AV branch of the U.S. Army.
The Wall location: 20W-054
Short Summary: Crashed on surveillance approach into Kontum at night in bad weather. Suspect wrong altitude.
Aircraft: UH-1H tail number 67-17800
Country: South Vietnam
MOS: 100B = Utility/Observation Helicopter Pilot
Primary cause: A/C Accident WX
Major attributing cause: aircraft connected not at sea
Compliment cause: fire or burns
Vehicle involved: helicopter
Position in vehicle: aircraft commander
Started Tour: 11/29/1968
"Official" listing: helicopter air casualty - other aircrew
Location: Kontum Province II Corps.
Additional information about this casualty:
A dedication has been made in the memory of WORWAC 68-17 member Eric
Bergquist, KIA 1969.
______________
From The Tennessean, Monday, October 9, 2000, page 2B:
Telescope Donated to VU Honors Veteran
By Jay Hamburg, Staff Writer
Francile Berquist liked the idea of people spending time looking into the
sky that her brother loved to fly in.
That's why the idea of dedicating a new telescope in his memory appealed
to her and her family.
Eric Berquist was a 24-year-old Army helicopter pilot when he was shot
down in Vietnam in 1969. He enlisted because he believed in the cause and
he wanted to fly.
"My brother loved to fly, loved being up in the sky," said Bergquist, an
associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Vanderbilt
[University, Nashville, TN]. Yesterday, more than three decades later,
the Bergquist family honored that sense of adventure and love of
exploration with a new telescope at Vanderbilt University's Dyer
Observatory.
The 14-inch-diameter telescope has been mounted in its own dome at the
Dyer Observatory on Oman Drive in south Davidson County.
Although it's not as large as the observatory's main telescope--a
24-inch-diameter instrument--the new telescope will serve many useful
purposes, said Douglas S. Hall, director of the observatory and VU
professor of astronomy.
"This will help us branch out to make Vanderbilt's riches and treasures
more available to the broader public," Hall said.
Hall said the family's donation of approximately $15,000 will go toward
the purchase and installation of the telescope.
The idea for dedicating the telescope began with Eric and Francille's
father, Emanual Bergquist, who was a retired operations manager for Exxon
Pipeline and a World War II veteran.
Unfortunately, he died earlier this year at age 87. Eric's widow, Gae
Nell Bergquist Trommald, came from Hawaii for the ceremony.
In 1969, Eric got married in Hawaii while on leave from combat duty. He
was killed in Vietnam about a month later.
Francille Bergquist, who also teaches Spanish at VU, said she viewed the
ceremony as a happy event--a commemoration of her brother and his joy of
learning new things.
She hoped the telescope would excite people to learn.
"I just want it to be used to open up people's ideas of the universe.
That was very Eric. He was always exploring. He was never afraid to try
something new."
For more information about the observatory and its events, see
http://www.dyer.vanderbilt.edu or call (615) 373-4897.
________________
For anyone who knew Eric, Ms. Bergquist's e-mail:
bergqumf@ctrvax.vanderbilt.edu.
Reason: aircraft lost or crashed
Casualty type: Non-hostile - died of other causes
married male U.S. citizen
Race: Caucasian
Religion: Roman Catholic
Burial information: HOUSTON NATIONAL CEMETERY, HOUSTON TX
The following information secondary, but may help in explaining this incident.
Category of casualty as defined by the Army: non-battle dead Category of personnel: active duty Army Military class: warrant officer
This record was last updated on 10/12/2000
This information is available on CD-ROM.
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Date posted on this site: 11/13/2023
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