LOVE CLYDE CURTIS

Name: CPT Clyde Curtis Love
Status: Killed In Action from an incident on 05/18/1972 while performing the duty of Pilot.
Age at death: 24.5
Date of Birth: 11/26/1947
Home City: Keating, OR
Service: AR branch of the component of the U.S. Army.
Unit: 180 ASHC
Major organization: 1st Aviation Brigade
Flight class: 67-19
Service: AR branch of the U.S. Army.
The Wall location: 01W-028
Short Summary: Hit in head by 37 mm going into Gravel Pit LZ during 5th day extension of 2nd tour. Giving in-country check ride. Got direct commission.
Aircraft: CH-47C
Country: South Vietnam
MOS: 1981 = 19 Rotary Wing Aviator (Unit Commander)
Primary cause: Hostile Fire
Major attributing cause: aircraft connected not at sea
Compliment cause: small arms fire
Vehicle involved: helicopter
Position in vehicle: aircraft commander
Vehicle ownership: government
Started Tour: 09/28/1971
"Official" listing: helicopter air casualty - other aircrew
The initial status of this person was: no previous report
Length of service: *
Location: Kien Giang Province IV Corps.
Military grid coordinates of event: VS600390

Additional information about this casualty:
My memories of my 1968 tour include many things, all happy I might add. It has always seemed incredible to me that when I left the 180th in January 1969, not a single pilot had been lost in our unit. All the more incredible when I compare it to the 180th of just two years later when I was again in Vietnam in 1971 flying 0-1 Bird Dogs for the 183rd Sea Horses out of Dong Ba Thin and checked on our old unit. Sad to say, the unit I discovered was barely recognizable what with its long list of KIA's and commanded by a Captain. A transformation that redoubled my appreciation of my good fortune.
It is germaine because I feel the 180th that I joined in January 1968 was a very special place veritably teaming with very experienced officers and pilots, commanded as best I can remember by a LTC and including many (do I remember correctly 13 !!?) field grade officers. My survival, career and happy life today are due with out question to that pool of experience and judgement.
And despite this field of experienced pilots, I vividly remember how exceptional Clyde Love was both as a person and as a pilot. Of the many whom I met in my two years in Vietnam, he is one of the few I have talked about in years since, most often in the course of expounding to others my theories of what it takes to be a good pilot: Namely that to the surprise of most, technical expertise and scientific ability are rarely essential to being an good pilot. Some pilots bring a scienfic ability to flying and others do not, seemingly in roughly equal numbers. What IS exceptional are those very rare persons who are Naturally Gifted Pilots, who seem to have a sixth sense when it comes to operating an aircraft and staying aware of the 3 dimentional environment around them. This special gift manifests itself in many ways, some major and some minor. In my career, I've only met one person who exhibited exhibited this special gift, as if was... Clyde Love. And what makes him so extra special for me, as Vern agreed today, was that his abilities were more than matched by his unassuming, cheerful and caring character.
Having only learned of Clyde's death this week from Mike Law's marvelous 1996 Directory. I am struggling to find an appropriate outlet for my desires to memorialize him in same small way. I have hopes of finding out if he has any surviving family members to whom I might be able to offer my expression of admiration and happy memories. Your prompt reply with information about Clyde's life back in the States will contribute enormously to that effort.
William R. McKelvy, Jr. (Bill and Dana) BeauSoleil 8634 Sycamore Trail Germantown, TN 38139 901-754-4778 email: 71143.71@compuserve.com Pilot for Federal Express since 1974

Reason: aircraft lost or crashed
Casualty type: Hostile - killed
married male U.S. citizen
Race: Caucasian
Religion: Presbyterian
Burial information: WILLAMETTE NATIONAL CEMETERY, PORTLAND OR
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: officer
This record was last updated on 12/15/1996

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Date posted on this site: 11/13/2023