KINKEADE RONALD JAY

Narrative

SYNOPSIS: On July 20, 1966, SP4 David Dillon was serving as crewchief on a UH-1B helicopter operating in Long An Province, South Vietnam on an air mobile assault mission. During the landing approach, the helicopter was hit by enemy gunfire, exploded and crashed. An immediate search of the area was conducted and the remains of 3 other crewmembers were recovered and identified. Dillon's wallet and ID card were found in the vicinity of the wreckage. An investigative board report indicated that Dillon's position on the aircraft was on the left door, which was the primary point of contact of the explosion which involved white phosphorous. No remains were found that could be identified as those of Dillon. A second, unsuccessful search was made. The area of the crash was in a rice paddy. When JCRC teams went back in December 1973 for follow-up, they were assaulted and one of the team members was killed. This was one of the last searches made by such teams in South Vietnam. Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 15 October 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: This was the 68th AHC's first combat loss. The aircraft was hit by an RPG right at Dillon's position. There were very little remains. We spent a whole day in the recovery operation. Submitted by James Cook, who was the 68th AHC's CO at this time, July, 1999. On 15 December 73, a OSD-DPMO team was preparing to excavate the crash site of this UH-1B that had been shot down during an air assault on 20 July 1966. The tail number was 64-14095. All four crewmen were killed, and the remains of three were recovered shortly after the crash. The team was in the process of searching for the remains of the fourth person, the crewchief, when they were ambushed on 15 December 73. This helicopter was 69-15711 killing the Vietnamese pilot. Three other Vietnamese survived. 69-15711 was hit by a rocket while off loading passengers and equipment in a rice paddy about 12 miles south of Saigon. The sortie was in support of the Four Party Joint Military Team (FPJMT) and Joint Casualty Resolution Center (JCRC) effort to recover the remains of American airmen lost earlier in the conflict. The aircraft was unarmed and clearly marked as FPJMT/JCRC. from: Paul Mather OSD-DPMO" and Dave Rosenau, (703) 602-2202 X 253, rosenaud@osd.pentagon.mil