This Military Service Page was created/owned by
CW2 Phillip M. Kemp (Mike)
to remember
McKain, Bobby Lyn, CW3.
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Casualty Info
Home Town Wichita
Last Address 1110 East Chesnut Garden City, KS 67846
Casualty Date May 03, 1968
Cause MIA-Finding of Death
Reason Air Loss, Crash - Land
Location Quang Tri (Vietnam)
Conflict Vietnam War
Location of Interment Arlington National Cemetery (VLM) - Arlington, Virginia
CW2 McKain was on his 2nd tour to Vietnam
No date is given for the start of his tour
He served his first tour with D Co., 227th Aviation Bn
He was posthumously promoted to CW3
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Status: Remains were returned on 08/11/08 from an incident on 05/03/1968 while performing the duty of Pilot.
Flight class: 65-19W Short Summary: Engaged NVA crew served weapon on east side of a shau valley west of Khe Sanh near "co roc". see chaney & refno 1155.
Aircraft: AH-1G tail number 66-15332
Call sign: Apache?
Service number: W3152914
Primary cause: SVN-BNR
Length of service: 03
Location: Quang Tri Province I Corps.
single male U.S. citizen
Religion: Methodist (Evangelical United Brethren)
This record was last updated on 07/19/2008 War Story:
The helicopter crashed in Laos based on the following:
(1) An 1/9 Cav MIA Board witness statement from DeRoy J. HARDIE, 1LT which reads as follows: "When the aircraft of CW2 McKain and WO1 Chaney crashed, it landed in Laos. For this reason there was no ground search made. All searching and observation was done from the air."
(2) A JCRC message 19 Jan 1976 proposing that McKain/Chaney's loss location should be corrected from Quang Tri Prov, SVN to Laos, and a DIA response dtd 31 Mar 1976 saying that DIA and Army concurred with the recommendation.
(3) in 3rd MarDiv ops log for 03 May 68 (TT 1201031016.pdf p27): "#114 - 031530H - From Task Force Hotel: 686383 Huie Cobra down across Laotian border shot down by ground fire exploded in mid air no survivors expected. AO will check out for survivors."
U.S. Department of Defense
Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs)
News Release
IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 610-08
July 17, 2008
Soldiers Missing From The Vietnam War Are Identified
The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of two U.S. servicemen, missing from the Vietnam War, have been identified and will be returned to their families for burial with full military honors.
They are Chief Warrant Officer Bobby L. McKain, of Garden City, Kansas; and Warrant Officer Arthur F. Chaney, of Vienna, Virginia, both U.S. Army. McKain will be buried on August 11, 2008, in Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C., and Chaney will be buried September 16, 2008, in Arlington.
Representatives from the Army met with the next-of-kin of these men to explain the recovery and identification process, and to coordinate interment with military honors on behalf of the secretary of the Army.
On May 3, 1968, these men flew an AH-1G Cobra gunship on an armed escort mission to support a reconnaissance team operating west of Khe Sanh, in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam. Their helicopter was hit by enemy anti-aircraft fire, exploded in mid-air and crashed west of Khe Sanh near the Laos-Vietnam border. The crew of other U.S. aircraft flying over the area immediately after the crash reported no survivors, and heavy enemy activity prevented attempts to recover the men's bodies.
In 1985, an American citizen with ties to Southeast Asian refugees turned over to U.S. officials human remains supposedly recovered from an AC-130 aircraft crash in Laos. While subsequent laboratory analysis disproved the association of the remains to the AC-130 crash, some of the remains were those of McKain and Chaney.
Between 1989 and 2003, Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) investigative teams working in Laos and Vietnam made five attempts to locate the crew's crash site, but could not confirm the location.
Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from JPAC and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory also used mitochondrial DNA and dental comparisons in identifying the remains.
Bobby was laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery on Aug 11 2008. He was identified by a jawbone fragment, two teeth and an arm bone. His co-pilot Arthur Chaney was also identified. God Bless them both!
Vietnam War/Counteroffensive Phase IV Campaign (1968)
From Month/Year
April / 1968
To Month/Year
June / 1968
Description This campaign was from 2 April to 30 June 1968. During this period friendly forces conducted a number of battalion-size attritional operations against the enemy.
Operations PEGASUS-Lam Son 207 relieved the Khe Sanh Combat Base on 5 April and thereby opened Route 9 for the first time since August 1967. This operation not only severely restricted the North Vietnamese Army's use of western Quang Tri Province but also inflicted casualties on the remnants of two North Vietnamese divisions withdrawing from the area. This success was followed by a singular allied spoiling operation in the A Shau Valley, Operation DELAWARE-Lam Son. These two operations prevented the enemy from further attacking I Corps Tactical Zone population centers and forced him to shift his pressure to the III Corps Tactical Zone.
During the period 5-12 May 1968 the Viet Cong launched an offensive with Saigon as the primary objective. Friendly forces defended the city with great determination. Consequently Saigon was never in danger of being overrun. Small Viet Cong units that did manage to get into the outskirts were fragmented and driven out with great loss of enemy life. By the end of June 1968 friendly forces had decisively blunted the enemy's attacks, inflicted very heavy casualties, and hindered his ability to attack urban areas throughout the Republic of Vietnam. The enemy was forced to withdraw to his sanctuaries.
The strength of the U.S. Army in Vietnam reach a peak of nearly 360,000 men during this period.
