As the helicopter picked up the team 4 miles inside Laos west of Dak Sut, it received a heavy volume of small arms fire. It is not known whether the aircraft was hit by hostile fire or hit a tree, but it nosed over, impacted the ground and exploded, bursting into flames.
The pilot, co-pilot and one passenger managed to leave the aircraft. Because of the fire and exploding small arms ammunition, rescue attempts for the others were futile.
There were six U.S. and 3 indigenous personnel aboard the helicopter. When search teams reached the site the same day, they could not account for the other U.S. personnel. Five were accounted for, but could not be recovered because of intense heat.
Dye, Glover and Griffith were classified as Missing In Action. They did not return when the general prisoner release occurred in 1973. Since the war ended, evidence mounts that Americans were left behind in enemy prison camps and that hundreds of them could be alive today. They deserve better than the abandonment
they received from the country they proudly served. |