RABB ROBERT IRA

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Name: 1LT Robert Ira Rabb
Status: Killed In Action from an incident on 03/05/1970 while performing the duty of Pilot.
Age at death: 23.4
Date of Birth: 10/16/1946
Home City: Darien, GA
Service: IN branch of the reserve component of the U.S. Army.
Unit: 195 AHC
Major organization: 1st Aviation Brigade
Flight class: 69-18
Service: IN branch of the U.S. Army.
The Wall location: 11W-105
Short Summary: Hit by RPG on gun run in Cambodia west of Quan Loi in and exploded 3 times before impact - bodies recovered later.
Aircraft: UH-1C tail number 64-14120
Call sign: THUNDERCHICKENS
Country: South Vietnam
MOS: 1981 = 19 Rotary Wing Aviator (Unit Commander)
Primary cause: Hostile Fire
Compliment cause: unknown
Started Tour: 08/15/1969
"Official" listing: helicopter air casualty - pilot
Length of service: *
Location: Phuoc Long Province III Corps.

Additional information about this casualty:
In the fall of 1969, 1Lt Rabb was assigned to HHC, 222nd Combat Aviation Battalion, 12th Combat Aviation Group, 1st Aviation Brigade as the HHC Executive Officer. He requested reassignment to the 195 AHC Gun Platoon when he neared his promotion date to Captain. On or about 5 Feb 1970, 1Lt Rabb was assigned to the gun platoon of the 195th. Within two weeks of his reassignment, he was shot down in Cambodia under conditions very similar to those described in section V of the 1992 VHPA Membership Directory for CW2 Dougan. I was Rabb's roommate while he was at Bearcat and I spoke to eye witnesses to the downing of Rabb's UH-1C. I also spoke to the battalion CO & S-3 and received the same description. the description matches that of Dougan's death except that the date of Rabb's death had to be around 20 Feb 1970 not Aug/Sep 1969. I believe the information regarding Dougan to be inaccurate (unless, of course, they were in two separate incidents). Rabb was initially listed as MIA since the area was extremely hostile and the aircraft had exploded in mid-air. There was no chance anyone survived the crash. Since all 195th missions in Cambodia were classified and the U.S. was officially observing Cambodian border rights, the decision was made not to attempt to recover the crew's remains. For security reasons, their MIA location was listed as South Vietnam. When upgraded to KIA, the location apparently remained as south Vietnam. The KIA date of 5 May 1970 is absolutely accurate for Rabb because I had been on R&R when we invaded Cambodia and returned on 2 May 1970. Within several days I was advised by the battalion S-3 that ground troops (11th ACR, I believe) had found the remains in Cambodia and they identified Bob by his MACV card. The fact that the KIA date for Rabb and Dougan are the same and they are both from the 195th AHC, is too big a coincidence to be separate incidents. Unfortunately, my memory of the name of the aircraft commander on that flight has dimmed and I can't confirm that it was Dougan. I am sure that Bob was so new to the Thunderchickens that the person reporting Dougan's data may not have known him. Maybe if you check with the source of Dougan's information, what I have provided here will jog their memory. The Battalion CO at the time was either LTC Gerald Okarsky ro LTC Dlement Wylie. I cannot remember the S-3's name. from Dennis M. Hogan, January 1993

Reason: aircraft lost or crashed
Casualty type: Hostile - died while missing
married male U.S. citizen
Race: Caucasian
Religion: Presbyterian
Burial information: ST ANDREWS CEMETERY, DARIEN, GA
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 01/23/2009

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Date posted on this site: 11/13/2023