Helicopter UH-1E 151852


Information on U.S. Marine Corps helicopter UH-1E tail number 151852
Date: 04/05/1967 MIA-POW file reference number: 2021
Incident number: 67040510.KIA
Unit: MARAIRGRU 36
South Vietnam
UTM grid coordinates: BS753015 (To see this location on a map, go to https://legallandconverter.com/p50.html and search on Grid Reference 49PBS753015)
Original source(s) and document(s) from which the incident was created or updated: Defense Intelligence Agency Reference Notes. Defense Intelligence Agency Helicopter Loss database. Also: 2021, OPERA (Operations Report. )
Summary: Two mines were command detonated in landing zone 4 km East-Southeast of Duc Pho causing a total of 12 KIAs.
Loss to Inventory

Crew Members:
MD HM1 PARKER THOMAS AQUINAS BNR
P CPT DEAN ALAN JAMES KIA
P CPT SHADBURNE BROOKE MCKAY KIA
C CPL SCRUGGS JOSEPH ALLEN KIA

Passengers and/or other participants:
HM2 KAUFFMAN MICHAEL M II, NA, OG, KIA


REFNO Synopsis:
Hospital Corpsman First Class Petty Officer Thomas A. Parker was a Navy corpsman assigned to Marine Air Group 36, 1st Medical Battalion, 1st Marine Division. On April 5, 1967, Petty Officer Parker was assigned to a UH1E "Huey" medical evacuation helicopter supporting Operation DeSoto south east of Nui Dang Hill, Quang Ngai Province, South Vietnam. While in a hover over a landing zone, the Huey on which Parker was riding was hit by enemy fire and exploded. [NOTE: Some Defense Department lists state that Parker's helicopter was lost over water. DOD loss coordinates are in Binh Binh Province, about 25 miles northwest of Phu Cat, and about 15 miles from the nearest point of Quang Ngai Province. No reason for these discrepancies can be determined.] According to witnesses, Petty Officer Parker died of wounds sustained in the explosion of the aircraft. One Navy account states that because of heavy enemy fire, his body could not be recovered. Another Navy account states that an extensive search of the area was made and remains could not be recovered. Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 30 June 1990 from one or more of the following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews.


War Story:
The most costly mining incident during this period occurred at dusk on 5 April. As full darkness approached, Captain Robert B . Wilson began to move his Company G, 7th Marines into a night defensive position on a small hill southeast of Nui Dang . Someone in a security element tripped an antipersonnel mine devised from a 105mm round. The explosion wounded two Marines, one of whom required immediate evacuation. Unfortunately, the medevac helicopter, which had been in the area all day, had departed for Ky Ha . Instead, the pilot of a UH-lE gun ship volunteered to make the evacuation. Captain Wilson suspected there might be additional mines hidden in the chest-high elephant grass on the hill. He advised the UH-1E pilot by radio to hover, rather than land, when picking up the casualty. The pilot hovered just above the ground and several infantrymen loaded the wounded Marine on board. As the loading occurred, a second, larger explosion disintegrated the UH-1E, causing numerous additional casualties . Other nearby Marines rushed to the scene to provide assistance only to be caught by a third explosion as large as the second. Darkness made it difficult for Captain Wilson to get an accurate casualty count; the reported figure was 10 dead and 13 wounded . (Not until a week later did Marines recover the body of an 11th victim, a crew member of the UH-1E . The crewman's body, still strapped in its seat, lay more than 200 meters from the site of the explosion.), Company G searched the area around the three craters and found two wires leading from the hill to a cane field 500 meters away; the VC had command detonated the last two mines. Analysis of the craters from the last two explosions revealed they had been made by bombs of 250 pounds or larger.

This record was last updated on 11/12/2022


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Date posted on this site: 11/13/2023


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