CROSBY HERBERT CHARLES

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Name: CPT Herbert Charles Crosby
Status: Remains were returned on 12/06 from an incident on 01/10/1970 while performing the duty of Pilot.
Declared dead on 11/05/1974.
Age at death: 22.6
Date of Birth: 05/30/1947
Home City: Ft Sill, OK
Service: FA branch of the reserve component of the U.S. Army.
Unit: 71 AHC, 14 CAB
Major organization: 1st Aviation Brigade
Flight class: 68-22
Service: FA branch of the U.S. Army.
The Wall location: 14W-022
Short Summary: IFR in rain in 196 AO crashed S. China Sea Father spent life savings going to Vietnam two times trying to learn what happened. See Howes
Aircraft: UH-1C tail number 66-00739
Call sign: FIREBIRD 96
Service number: O5430922
Country: South Vietnam
MOS: 1981 = 19 Rotary Wing Aviator (Unit Commander)
Primary cause: SVN-BNR
Major attributing cause: aircraft connected not at sea
Compliment cause: unknown or not reported
Vehicle involved: helicopter
Position in vehicle: pilot
Vehicle ownership: government
"Official" listing: helicopter air casualty - pilot
The initial status of this person was: non-hostile missing - bonified
Length of service: *
Location: Quang Tin Province I Corps.
Military grid coordinates of event: BT107143

Additional information about this casualty:
DNA testing of remains returned to the US in 1989 from Vietnam have been positively identified as Captain Herbert Crosby, MIA for 36 years. A Department of Defense press release says Captain Crosby, then 22, and two crewmen were flying aboard a UH-1C Huey helicopter back to their base in Chu Lai in 1970 when it went down in bad weather over Quang Nam Province in the country's southern region. A search and rescue effort by the Army was hampered by the rugged terrain and thick jungle. A Vietnamese refugee and the Vietnamese government returned crash-related items, including human remains and Captain Crosby's dog tags, to US specialists in 1989. Further excavation of the crash site in 1994 produced more remains. Earlier this month officials with the Defense Prisoner of War Missing Personnel Office ordered cross-matching of DNA from the remains found with that of Captain Crosby's two sisters. Scientists with the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory were able to make a positive identification. DNA tests had already identified the remains of two crewmen who were flying with Crosby: Sergeant First Class Wayne C. Allen, and Sergeant First Class Francis G. Graziosi.

He was in the gun platoon of the 'Rattlers' and from GA not OK. He was an artillery RLO so he put home of record as Ft Sill, OK. From Dave Grieger.

Reason: aircraft lost or crashed
Casualty type: Non-hostile - died while missing
married male U.S. citizen
Race: Caucasian
Religion: Protestant - no denominational preference
Burial information: ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY, VA
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: officer
This record was last updated on 11/08/2008


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Date posted on this site: 11/13/2023


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