POW/MIA Memorial Service At Fort Rucker - September 2000         

 

Fort Rucker paid tribute to POW/MIAs from all the wars but the focus of attention was on those of the 1st Aviation Brigade. The POW/MIA Flag was flown under the garrison flag. BG Virgil Packett, the Deputy Commanding General of Fort Rucker spoke about the contributions that the veterans of all wars have made, especially those who are still missing, and those who served as POW's. Mr. Stanfill, a veteran B-17 pilot from W.W.II, talked about his experiences as a POW in Germany, after having been shot down on a daylight bombing raid to Berlin.

The main focus turned to those of the st Aviation Brigade. Major McFadden spoke about the purpose of our being there - to dedicate the Brigade's memorial to the crew of Aircraft 262. In attendance were LTC (Ret)
Crawford, the company commander of the 170th AHC at the time; COL (Ret) Leonard, who took command of the 170th shortly after this mission; CW4(P) Jim Lake, flight lead and the AMC for this particular mission; CW4 (Ret) Tom Bennie and CW4 (Ret) Clifford, former members of the 170th, COL Russell Forshag, the present commander of the 1st Aviation Brigade, and many other active duty members. All of these folks helped unveil the memorial which will hang in the conference room and will serve as a reminder of our
Brigade's lineage and honors.

 

This memorial, though it includes only one particular crew and aircraft, represented the heroism of ALL members of the Brigade during the Vietnam War.

LTC (Ret) Crawford presented the Brigade Commander with two yearbooks from the company's era in Vietnam, for placement in the display cases.

CW4 Jim Lake took everyone through a step-by-step account of what happened that day the Brigade lost the crew of 262. It was an emotional event for Mr. Lake, as it turned out, he was the one who was supposed to extract the LRRP from RT Pennsylvania, but due to low fuel status, he left CPT O'Donnell and his crew
on station while the rest of the flight went back to Dak To, to refuel, as they were all getting low on gas. The LRRP team was in heavy contact and on the run.  CW4 Lake and the rest of the flight were about 15K's inbound to the area after refuel (and to send CPT O'Donnell back to refuel. The LRRP team leader called for immediate extraction. CPT O'Donnell attempted the pickup. When the rest of the flight arrived back on station, he called saying that he had all 8 members on board and was coming out. They took off, and approximately 300m from the PZ were hit by an RPG and exploded. They crashed into the trees and a secondary explosion was seen moments later. The gun crews attempted to get into the area to see if there were any survivors,
but due to intense groundfire, nobody could get in to the area. After searching the area as long as they could, CW4 Lake said he made the hardest decision of his life - and ordered the flight to break station and RTB, as
any further searching would have resulted in losing more aircraft and people.

CW4 Lake stressed that this mission wasn't anything different than any of the hundred other ones they had flown, and the crew wasn't "special" in any way, they were just one of the many, many crews and ships lost doing their duty.