KIDD DONNY RAMON

Narrative

The dates are interesting. At the time of the loss (March 68) the Brigade forward HQ was located near Pleiku with our base being at AnKhe. An operational element of that HQ was located at Kontum - this is where I was positioned as Aviation Officer for the Brigade. All of this was located in the Western portion of our area of operation in Vietnam. The original plan was for Donny to fly the Major to a field site near Kontum (which he did) then they were to proceed to the forward Brigade HQ near Pleiku (they never arrived there). From there the plan was for them to fly to AnKhe and then on to TuyHoa where we had another battalion of the Brigade located. We (the forward element at Kontum) received a call late that evening that the aircraft had not arrived at Tuy Hoa. At this point I initiated initial inquiries to determine where they might be. Following discussions with the Brigade S3 and Commanding General we notified the USAF who became the coordination point for a Search and Rescue Operation. We were hampered by the fact that Donny had not filed a flight plan with the Army's Flight Following service - which was not an easy thing to do in that area. Had he been able to file a flight plan we would have had a better idea about where to conduct the search. All that being understood the aircraft was still shot down at the pass going toward AnKhe. Not long after that the 173rd made a swap in AO's (area of operation) and moved it's Brigade HQ to LZ English on the eastern coast; with the 4th Inf Division moving it's elements to the western part of Vietnam. I know we were not notified of the wreckage discovery until after we had located to LZ English. In my mind it was well after the April dates you have mentioned. However, I have nothing to verify dates - only recalling that I thought it was about four month after the incident. It was a tragic loss for our Aviation Platoon - Donny was well like by his fellow aviators and those pilots flew countless hours working with the USAF Search and Rescue plan before it was finally discontinued about three days later. Somewhere the date of discovery is posted. Good Luck - Bruce D Silvey (LTC, Retired), Brigade Aviation Officer 1968