Name: WO1 Anthony Dal Pozzo, Jr.
Status: Killed In Action from an incident on 01/28/1973 while performing the duty of Pilot.
Died 1 days later on 01/29/1973.
Age at death: 21.8
Date of Birth: 04/26/1951
Home City: Santa Barbara, CA
Service: AV branch of the reserve component of the U.S. Army.
Unit: 18 AVN, 164 CAG
Major organization: 1st Aviation Brigade
Flight class: 72-33
Service: AV branch of the U.S. Army.
The Wall location: 01W-113
Short Summary: Last Army helicopter pilot to be killed in the Vietnam War.
Aircraft: UH-1H
Call sign: GREEN DELTA
Country: South Vietnam
MOS: 100B = Utility/Observation Helicopter Pilot
Primary cause: Hostile Fire
Major attributing cause: aircraft connected not at sea
Compliment cause: small arms fire
Vehicle involved: helicopter
Position in vehicle: pilot
Vehicle ownership: government
Started Tour: 12/13/1972
"Official" listing: helicopter air casualty - pilot
The initial status of this person was: hostile wounded in action - very serious hospitalization
Length of service: *
Location: Phong Dinh Province IV Corps.
Military grid coordinates of event: WS733003
Additional information about this casualty:
Dal Pozzo was wounded 28 Jan 73, about 2 hrs after the official cease fire, he was about twenty minutes flying time south of Can Tho, inbound for landing, with Dal Pozzo on the controls. The Huey Dal Pozzo was in when hit, was flown by the AC, CW2 Wayne Goodhope (who was not hit), back to Can Tho. Dal Pozzo was unloaded and initially treated in the small dispensary but it was rapidly determined that the severity of his wound, would require that he be Medevac'd to Saigon. Although there was a Medevac Huey at Can Tho, since our unit the 18th CAC had CH-47C's, and were much faster, Dal Pozzo was loaded on a Chinook and transported directly by Chinook to the 3rd Field Hospital (I heard that Chinooks had rarely, if ever, landed on their designed-to-accommodate-a-Huey helipad and that the rotorwash blew the hell out of everything and everyone nearby.)
The Cease-Fire took effect at 08:00 hrs local time in RVN; therefore, the war was already officially over. He was in fact, the last Army Helicopter Pilot to be KIA in Vietnam. The aircraft was not lost or crashed but instead hit by small arms fire, which also wounded some passengers on the Huey, during the same burst of gunfire which hit Dal Pozzo.
Unfortunately, Dal Pozzo died the next day.
From: John M Harris, CW5 RET
Reason: gunshot or small arms fire
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Date posted on this site:
11/13/2023
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Casualty type: Hostile - died of wounds
single male U.S. citizen
Race: Caucasian
Religion: Roman Catholic
Burial information: SANTA BARBARA CEMETERY, SANTA BARBARA, CA
The following information secondary, but may help in explaining this incident.
Category of casualty as defined by the Army: battle dead Category of personnel: active duty Army Military class: warrant officer
This record was last updated on 07/26/2014