Date of Death | Service Members | Age |
April 19, 1967 | SP4 Joseph Leonard Colotti (In-country training w/ 175th AHC) |
19 |
July 7, 1967 | CPT Thomas Albert Derosier MAJ Charles Edward Sauer PFC Paul Joseph Simon CPL Ivra Allen Tatum |
28 31 20 22 |
Incident Report UH-1D helicopter flown by Major Charles E. Sauer and Captain Thomas A. Derosier was reported missing Crews were scrambled immediately upon report of the missing Blackhawks, The aircraft was found in the vicinity of Minh Thanh and it had crashed and burned beyond recognition. No one knows the cause of the mysterious tragedy which took the lives of the four crew members aboard. Major Sauer, Captain Derosier, PFC Tatum and PFC Simon were the first members of the 187th Assault helicopter Company to die in the Republic of Vietnam. |
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September 20, 1967 | CPT Billie Taylor Presson | 28 |
Incident Report Captain Billie Presson a flight platoon leader of the 187th was killed during the last extraction from what appeared to be a secure PZ. He had led the Blackhawk flight through out the day conducting Eagle Flights for the 25th Infantry Division in the Hobo woods. Four ships were hit by enemy ground fire throughout the mission but continued to fly. Captain Pressen died from a bullet wound in the head while sitting in the PZ as the troops loaded. |
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October 11. 1967 | CPT Ellis Miller Bailey | 27 |
Incident Report Captain Ellis M. Bailey died when his aircraft crashed into the water and sank with six people on board, while on operations south of Saigon with U.S. Navy Riverboats. Captain Bailey was the only person unable to get out of the aircraft, and it settled in 30 feet of water. |
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November 11, 1967 | MAJ Evert Eugene Roberson | 35 |
Incident Report While engaged in a company sized operation north of Dau Tieng, aircraft 66-00925 was hit by small arms fire. Pilot MAJ Evart Eugene Robeson suffered a severe leg wound and the crew evacuated him immediately to medical facilities in Dau Tieng. He subsequently succumbed to shock two days later. |
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The 187th was engaged in a company size combat operation north of Dau Tieng on 22 NOV 67 (my birthday, it so happens). Major Robeson was flying as co-pilot on A.C. 66-00925. I don’t recall the exact details, but CPT Ron Cody was the Aircraft Commander. The flight received some small arms fire, and Ron radioed that his co-pilot had been hit, and he was proceeding to Dau Tieng. MAJ R later told us that the two crewmen pulled him out of his seat and worked to control his bleeding while Ron flew as fast as the ship would go, direct to the dustoff pad, having notified Dau Tieng of the emergency. The arteries in his right knee were severed and bleeding was severe – the medical personnel at Dau Tieng said that he would have bled to death in minutes except for the crew’s response. This was not all that different than many other incidents the 187th experienced, but the strange part is what happened later. My co-pilot and I (I believe it was Kirk Nivens, but would have to verify with him) visited him in the Cu Chi hospital with on 25 Nov, along with another Blackhawk crew. Apparently the other crew was that of the C.O., Maj Burns, based on another’s account. Major R was medically stabilized with his right leg encased in a plastic bag of sorts. He smiled broadly when we teased him about going home early, and when we left he seemed in good spirits. It seems that shortly after we left he was told that he would lose the leg at the knee. He went into shock and died suddenly. Eric Mercer |
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December 7, 1967 | WO1 Charles Chester Wilcox | 21 |
Incident Report On this day, W01 Charles Chester Wilcox was assigned to another unit (190th AHC) to provide training. WO1 Wilcox was reported as KIA. Official report states: WO1 Charles Chester Wilcox died of a gun shot to the head while inserting ARVN troops to a hot LZ near Phu Loi. UH-1D. |
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January 5, 1968 | SGT Kenneth Charles Scruton | 25 |
Incident Report The Blackhawks became involved in a fierce battle with a large NVA force while on short final to an LZ, thirty five mikes northwest of Tay Ninh. Two helicopters were shot down by the heavy enemy automatic weapons fire. One crew member, SP5 Kenneth Scruton was killed. The three remaining crew, Warrant Officer Mercer, Warrant Officer Jordan and SP4 Seitz were down in an enemy infested area for two hours before they were rescued. The only weapon among them was one .45 caliber pistol. The Blackhawks continued the combat assault missions into the hostile area and later that afternoon, they returned for extractions. Again they received heavy enemy resistance. The flight was mortared while shut down at a nearby fire support base. Throughout the day, ten crew members were wounded and eleven aircraft sustained damage from the ballistic assault. |
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February 16, 1968 | SP5 Dennis Jay Lulofs | 20 |
Incident Report The Blackhawks conducted a combat assault mission in an area Five miles north of Saigon. The flight encountered enemy automatic weapons fire and Lieutenant Henry L Wyatt II escaped serious injury when a round penetrated the floor and lodged in a book under his seat entitled “The Source”. He wrote to the author, James Michener, about the incident. Within a week he received a letter from the author and an autographed copy of the novel. The Tay Ninh Base Camp was hit by an enemy rocket and mortar attack that night. Three helicopters were damaged by flying shrapnel. One crew member Sp4 Dennis J. Lulof was killed and eight other Blackhawks were wounded. The attack continued until 0400 in the morning . |
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April 12, 1968 | WO1 Stephen John Eckle WO1 John Francis Fitzgerald SP5 Harold Allen Tharp, Jr |
25 20 25 |
Incident Report A sad day for the Crusaders. While flying support for 3rd BDE. 25th Inf. Div., a Rat Pack gun ship received 6 to 7 .51 cal hits to the rear of the engine compartment. The ship went down and resulting in 3 KIA’s and 1 WIA. |
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November 27, 1968 | SP4 James Gregory Brady SGT Jerome Dee Chandler SP5 David Dewitt Creel WO1 Allen Eugene Duneman SP4 Frederick Harry Frazer 1LT August Karl Ritzau |
20 24 20 25 19 23 |
Incident Report The day before Thanksgiving started out bad for the Crusaders and ended the same way. On one of the first insertions the enemy were waiting in the LZ for the flight to come in. They opened up with heavy small arms and anti-aircraft fire while the flight was on short final. The trail ship was hit by an RPG and went down in flames killing one crewmember and seriously wounding the rest of the crew. The ship that came back in to pick up the downed crew received so many hits that it too went down about one mile out of the LZ. No one was injured in this forced landing. Total casualties for the one LZ were one KIA, and 10 WIA’s. Out of the flight of 10 ships only one or two escaped without taking hits. Two ships had too many hits to even try and count them. Although hit hard, the Crusaders lived up to their reputation and continued to fly support for the ground unit until late that night when the second tragedy struck. |
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December 28, 1968 | WO1 Gerald David Markland SP4 Stephen Chester Ponty, Jr |
20 19 |
April 13, 1969 | SP4 Michael Grant Porter SP4 Ricardo Ibrahin Romero |
21 21 |
May 21, 1969 | SP5 Clyde Sampson Evans | 20 |
September 2, 1969 | CPT Donald Robert Kilpatrick | 22 |
November 24, 1969 | CW2 Howard Brisbane Comer SP4 James Randall Jones, Jr SP4 Laurence Atwood Young |
24 20 20 |
May 14, 1970 | PFC Charles Douglas Blair WO1 Raymond Henry Krug, Jr CPT Thomas John Larkin II SP4 Kent Childs Taylor |
20 19 23 20 |
December 27, 1970 | SP4 Roy Douglas Jordan | 19 |
February 12, 1971 | SP5 William John Johnson CPT James Garland Siddons |
20 25 |
September 27, 1971 | SGT Luis Hector Campos WO1 Steven Dale Karhehm CPT John Julliano Kintaro SGT Edwin Allen Kudlacek |
22 22 29 20 |
November 15, 1971 | SGT Daniel Scanlon Brooker SGT John Andrew Charnaplosky WO1 Vincent Patrick Martin, Jr WO1 Thomas Joe Puff |
20 19 23 20 |
- 1967 – 9 KIA
- 1968 – 13 KIA
- 1969 – 7 KIA
- 1970 – 5 KIA
- 1971 – 10 KIA