Jerry Glen Bridges, MIA/POW

Jerry Glen Bridges Rank/Branch: E5/US Army Unit: 243rd Assault
Helicopter Company, 10th Combat Aviation Battalion
Date of Birth: 07 January 1948 (Tamms IL)
Home City of Record: Columbia TN
Date of Loss: 20 October 1968
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates:
122945N 1090753E (BP890830) Status (in 1973):
Missing In Action Category:
4 Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: CH47 Refno: 1306
Other Personnel In Incident:
Charles E. Deitsch;
Henry C. Knight;
Charles H. Meldahl;
Ronald V. Stanton
(all missing) :

On October 20, 1968, CW3 Deitsch, aircraft commander; WO1 Knight,
pilot; SP5 Meldahl, crewchief; SP4 Bridges, flight engineer; and
SP4 Stanton, door gunner, departed Dong Ba Thien Airfield, South
Vietnam, in a CH47A helicopter (serial #66-19053) on a resupply mission
to Ban Me Thuot, South Vietnam. The CH47 "Chinook" helicopter
was one of the workhorses of the Army's air fleet. As a cargo lift, the
Chinook could carry up to 28,000 pounds on its external cargo hook,
and is credited with the recovery of 11,500 disabled aircraft worth more
than $3 billion. As troop carrier, the aircraft could be fitted with 24 litters
for medical evacuation, or carry 33-44 troops in addition to the crew.
On one occasion, a Chinook evacuated 147 refugees and their possessions
on a single flight. The Chinook could be outfitted for bombing missions,
dropping tear gas or napalm in locations fixed wing aircraft could not
reach. The big bird could carry a large cargo of supplies.

Deitsch radioed at 0700 hours on October 20 that his aircraft
was over the Ninh Hoa Valley. That was the last anyone heard
of the CH47. At about 0800 hours, it was determined that the
helicopter was overdue. An intensive search effort was made, but
no wreckage was ever found of the CH47, and search efforts were
oncluded on October 28. Villagers were later canvassed throughout
the Ninh Ho Valley, and literature was distributed asking about the
crash of the Chinook, but no new information was ever discovered.
The five men aboard the Chinook lost on October 20, 1968
were classified Missing In Action. They are among nearly 2400
Americans who are unaccounted for from American involvement in
Vietnam. Experts now believe that hundreds of Americans are still
alive in Southeast Asia, waiting for their country to come for them.
The crew of the CH47 lost on October 20, 1968 could be among them.
It's time we brought them home.

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