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Casualty Info
Home Town Portland
Last Address Portland
Casualty Date Feb 08, 1968
Cause KIA-Killed in Action
Reason Air Loss, Crash - Land
Location Dinh Tuong (Vietnam)
Conflict Vietnam War
Location of Interment Oregon Vietnam Veterans Living Memorial - Portland, Oregon
Note from Page Admin: According to several sources, the 135th AHC was attached to the 10th Combat Aviation BN, 12 Aviation Group at the time of the below documented loss.
However, according to the 135th AHC Unit History, on file with the Vietnam Helicopter Pilot's Assoc. website, this unit was attached to the 222nd Aviation BN during 1968. That Unit History is uploaded on the opposite page of this profile.
Information on U.S. Army helicopter UH-1D tail number 66-01128
Incident number: 68020818.KIA
Original source(s) and document(s) from which the incident was created or updated:
Defense Intelligence Agency Helicopter Loss database.
Also: OPERA (Operations Report. )
Crew Members:
AC CPT FLEER ROBERT DEAN KIA P WO1 MOORE GLENN DOUGLAS KIA CE PFC LABUDA ROBERT ALAN KIA (Note: CE = Crew Chief) G SP4 CAVANAUGH RICHARD FRED KIA (Note: G = Gunner)
War Story:
The crash was caused by heavy small arms fire. Bob, Glen and the gunner were heavily hit . The crew chief was killed in the crash. They were chalk 5 and I was chalk 6. I identified the remains the next day after we recovered the bodies.
Tom Rudolph, dingy@snowhill.com
I recently got an assignment in my US History class. Our teacher gave us a challenge and our goal is to post remembrances to all those who lost their lives in vietnam. There are many people who don't have any remembrances on here and our goal is for them to be remembered and to show our gratitude to all they went through. My goal is to post 100 remembrances because those who gave that sacrifice for our country should never be forgotten. Richard, thank you for all you did, you will always be remembered!
Thanks!
Jen Steffen
Posted by: Jen Steffen
Email:
Relationship:
Thursday, May 8, 2003
Description This campaign was from 30 January to 1 April 1968. On 29 January 1968 the Allies began the Tet-lunar new year expecting the usual 36-hour peaceful holiday truce. Because of the threat of a large-scale attack and communist buildup around Khe Sanh, the cease fire order was issued in all areas over which the Allies were responsible with the exception of the I CTZ, south of the Demilitarized Zone.
Determined enemy assaults began in the northern and Central provinces before daylight on 30 January and in Saigon and the Mekong Delta regions that night. Some 84,000 VC and North Vietnamese attacked or fired upon 36 of 44 provincial capitals, 5 of 6 autonomous cities, 64 of 242 district capitals and 50 hamlets. In addition, the enemy raided a number of military installations including almost every airfield. The actual fighting lasted three days; however Saigon and Hue were under more intense and sustained attack.
The attack in Saigon began with a sapper assault against the U.S. Embassy. Other assaults were directed against the Presidential Palace, the compound of the Vietnamese Joint General Staff, and nearby Ton San Nhut air base.
At Hue, eight enemy battalions infiltrated the city and fought the three U.S. Marine Corps, three U.S. Army and eleven South Vietnamese battalions defending it. The fight to expel the enemy lasted a month. American and South Vietnamese units lost over 500 killed, while VC and North Vietnamese battle deaths may have been somewhere between 4,000 and 5,000.
Heavy fighting also occurred in two remote regions: around the Special Forces camp at Dak To in the central highlands and around the U.S. Marines Corps base at Khe Sanh. In both areas, the allies defeated attempts to dislodge them. Finally, with the arrival of more U.S. Army troops under the new XXIV Corps headquarters to reinforce the marines in the northern province, Khe Sanh was abandoned.
Tet proved a major military defeat for the communists. It had failed to spawn either an uprising or appreciable support among the South Vietnamese. On the other hand, the U.S. public became discouraged and support for the war was seriously eroded. U.S. strength in South Vietnam totaled more than 500,000 by early 1968. In addition, there were 61,000 other allied troops and 600,000 South Vietnamese.
The Tet Offensive also dealt a visibly severe setback to the pacification program, as a result of the intense fighting needed to root out VC elements that clung to fortified positions inside the towns. For example, in the densely populated delta there had been approximately 14,000 refugees in January; after Tet some 170,000 were homeless. The requirement to assist these persons seriously inhibited national recovery efforts.