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REMARKS: NO SIGN OF CREW
SYNOPSIS: On January 5, 1968, WO Dennis C. Hamilton,
aircraft
commander; WO
Sheldon D. Schultz, pilot; SP5 Ernest F. Briggs, Jr., crew chief;
SP4 James P.
Williamson, crewman, and SSgt. John T. Gallagher, passenger;
were aboard a UH1D
helicopter (tail # 66-1172) on a mission to infiltrate an
indigenous
reconnaissance patrol into Laos.
The reconnaissance patrol and SSgt. Gallagher were operating
under
orders to Command & Control North, MACV-SOG (Military
Assistance Command, Vietnam Studies
and Observation Group). MACV-SOG was a joint service high
command
unconventional warfare task force engaged in highly
classified operations
throughout Southeast Asia. The 5th Special Forces channeled
personnel
into MACV-SOG (although it was not a Special Forces group)
through Special
Operations Augmentation (SOA), which provided their "cover" while
under
secret orders to MACV-SOG. The teams performed deep
penetration missions of
strategic reconnaissance and interdiction which were called,
depending on the time frame,
"Shining Brass" or "Prairie Fire" missions.
As the aircraft approached the landing zone about 20 miles inside
Laos
south of Lao Bao, it came under heavy 37mm
anti-aircraft fire while at an
altitude of about 300 feet above ground level.
The aircraft immediately entered a nose-low
vertical dive and crashed.
Upon impact with the ground, the aircraft burst into flames which
were 10 to 20 feet high.
No radio transmissions were heard during the helicopter's
descent,
nor were radio or beeper signals heard after impact. Four attempts
to get into the area of the downed helicopter failed due
to intense ground fire.
During the next two days more attempts to get to the wreckage
failed.
The pilot of one search helicopter maneuvered to
within 75 feet of the crash site
before being forced out by enemy fire.
The pilot who saw the wreckage stated that the
crashed helicopter was a mass of burned metal
and that there was
no part of the aircraft that could be recognized.
No signs of life were seen in the crash area.
Weather delayed further search attempts for a couple of days.
After the weather improved,
the successful insertion of a ground team was made east of
the crash to avoid enemy fire.
The team was extracted after the second day, finding
nothing.
The crash site was located near the city of Muong Nong in
Savannakhet
Province, Laos.
Nearly 600 Americans were lost in Laos. The Pathet Lao insisted
that the
"tens of tens"
of Americans they held would only be released from Laos, but
the U.S. did not officially recognize the communist faction in
Laos
and did not negotiate for American prisoners being held by
them.
Not one American held by the Lao was ever
released.
Alarmingly, evidence continues to mount that Americans were left
as
prisoners in Southeast Asia
and continue to be held today. Unlike "MIAs" from
other wars,
most of the nearly 2500 men and women who remain missing in
Southeast Asia can
be accounted for.
Perhaps the crew of the helicopter did not survive the
crash,
but until there is positive proof of their deaths, we cannot
forget them.
If even ONE was left behind at the end of the war, alive,
(and many authorities
estimate the numbers to be in the hundreds), we have FAILED as a
nation until
and unless we do everything possible to secure his freedom and
bring him
home.
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