Name: CW2 Thomas William Damm
Status: Killed In Action from an incident on 07/07/1970 while performing the duty of Aircraft Commander.
Age at death: 22.3
Date of Birth: 03/14/1948
Home City: Fond Du Lac, WI
Service: AV branch of the reserve component of the U.S. Army.
Unit: A/4/77 ARA 101 ABN
Major organization: 101st Airborne Division
Flight class: 69-15
Service: AV branch of the U.S. Army.
The Wall location: 09W-126
Short Summary: Crashed during night ARA mission possibly due to vertigo or target fixation induced by hostile fire.
Aircraft: AH-1G tail number 68-15136
Call sign: DRAGON 93D
Service number: W3165116
Country: South Vietnam
MOS: 100E = Attack Helicopter Pilot
Primary cause: Hostile Fire
Major attributing cause: aircraft connected not at sea
Compliment cause: vehicular accident
Vehicle involved: helicopter
Position in vehicle: aircraft commander
Vehicle ownership: government
Started Tour: 08/24/1969
"Official" listing: helicopter air casualty - other aircrew
The initial status of this person was: no previous report
Length of service: *
Location: Thua Thien Province I Corps.
Military grid coordinates of event: YC814983
Additional information about this casualty:
Tom was originallly assigned to my unit, B Battery, 4/77th ARA. After a few months he requested to be grounded for personal reasons. He was then transferred to A Battery where he was doing admin work for a while. After a month or so he was needed back in the cockpit and started flying combat missions again. It was only after one or two missions back on flight status that he went out on this night mission. Submitted by Bill Gurski, Dec 1996.
Tom was my wingman on that fateful night. He was a close personal friend of mine and during his time with A battery, 4/77 ARA, he was on constant flight status. As a member of my Section, he performed regular combat flights as both a team leader and wing. From: David Moore
Reason: aircraft lost or crashed
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Date posted on this site:
11/13/2023
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Casualty type: Hostile - killed
single male U.S. citizen
Race: Caucasian
Religion: Methodist (Evangelical United Brethren)
Burial information: ESTABROOKS CEMETERY, FOND DU LAC, WI
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 09/14/2016