ALLEN WILLIAM TERRY

Narrative

My original map was a 1:250,000, JOG-(Ground), elevation in meters, printed 12-65 by the Army Map Service, Corps of Engineers. A new map of the area (complete) is a 1:250,000, JOG (Air), elevation in feet, printed 6-84 by the Defense Mapping Agency, Hydrographic/Topographic Center. UH-1H, Tail number 66-16587 went down at Grid Zone Designator 48P YB775105, Lat/Long was 14 deg, 33 min, 10 sec / 107 deg, 33 min, 40 sec. That put the site 28Km west, south west of Dak To airstrip. The heading worked out to 245 degrees and elevation was right at 3000'. Unfortunately I lost the aircraft I was flying during this op (577) two days later, NE of Dak To on a mountain top. We were more fortunate and all survived. Tom Roy, August 1999. I had been in-country about five months flying for A/4th Aviation Battalion. I liked flying these �sniffer� missions and flew them whenever I could. 1LT Allen was an AC and prior to the mission had told me that today I was flying as the PIC. For this mission I had left the briefing a little earlier than he to make certain the aircraft was ready. When he joined us at the aircraft, he said that he had volunteered to fly the mission today under my command and the two enlisted men also said they volunteered for this mission. We had flown this type of mission in this area before and, if I remember the briefing correctly, we were told we were trying to pin-point about three NVA battalions. I do not recall being shot down or the rescue or the first few weeks in the hospitals. Later I talked with Al McGowan (his real name was James). He died in 1993 but he had served on the investigation team for my aircraft. He gave me some photos of the aircraft after I had been taken out. Normally, the �sniffer� Huey was covered by two gunships. I would love to talk with anyone of those crews. As I understand it, I was unconscious for a long time (maybe two days) before an Engineer team was able to rescue me and recovery the bodies of my crew members. I spent about nine months in military hospitals and was then retired. Submitted to the VHPA by Ray Livermont in June, 2001.