Shareware Supreme Volume 6 #1/swsii.zip/swsii/009/C398.ZIP/C398.TXT

Text File | 1990-06-05 | 5KB | 88 lines

CLAY, EUGENE LUNSFORD

Name: Eugene Lunsford Clay
Rank/Branch: E5/US Air Force
Unit: 37th Aerospace Rescue & Recovery Squadron, Da Nang
Date of Birth: 20 February 1939
Home City of Record: Arlington TX
Date of Loss: 08 November 1967
Country of Loss: Laos
Loss Coordinates: 161458N 1065258E (YC012973)
Status (in 1973): Killed/Body Not Recovered
Category: 2
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: HH3E

Others In Incident: Joseph G. Kusick; Bruce R. Baxter; Ralph W. Brower; Larry W.
Maysey (all missing); Gerald Young (rescued - awarded Congressional Medal Of
Honor for action); 3 indigenous personnel with Special Forces team (rescued)

Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 15 June 1990 from one or more of the
following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with
POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews.

REMARKS: CRASH-5 DED; PILOT RECV-J

SYNOPSIS: On November 8, 1967, two Air Force "Jolly Greens" (#26 and #29) from
the 37th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron were scrambled from Da Nang Air
Base at 1505 hours for an emergency extraction of five surviving members of a
Special Forces reconnaissance team which had suffered heavy casualties while
operating deep in a denied area in Laos. The recovery effort was to be recorded
by the Squadron as one of the largest and most hazardous on record.

The two Air Force helicopters were advised by forward air control to hold while
three Army UH1B gunships softened the area with rockets and machine gun fire. An
Air Force C130 gunship, meanwhile, provided flare support for the mission. At
1630Z, Jolly Green 29 picked up the three indigenous personnel before being
driven off by hostile fire. Damaged, Jolly Green 29 left and made an emergency
landing at Khe Sanh. 20 minutes later, Jolly Green 26, flown by CAPT Gerald
Young, with flight crew consisting of CAPT Ralph Brower, co-pilot; SSGT Eugene
Clay, flight engineer; and SGT Larry Maysey, rescue specialist; braved the
ground fire to pick up Special Forces SP4 Joseph G. Kusick and MSGT Bruce R.
Baxter, both wounded. The helicopter was hit by automatic weapons fire, crashed
and burst into flames.

By the afternoon of November 9, a recovery team was inserted into the area and
reached the crash site of the burned HH3. Because of fading light, it was
impossible to inspect the wreckage at that time.

On 10 November, the wreckage was searched and 3 charred remains were found. Two
of the remains had identification tags which identified them as members of the
crew. The third remains had no tags, but were identified as SP4 Kusick, radio
operator of the reconnaissance team, as the long antenna from his PRC-25 radio
were found on his body. CAPT Young had survived and was rescued 17 hours after
the crash of the aircraft.

About 34 meters downhill from the wreckage, another set of remains were found
which were readily identified as MSGT Baxter from the facial features. No trace
was found of the third crew member. The remains of the two crewmen and Kusick
were removed from the aircraft and placed with MSGT Baxter's remains so they
could be hoisted as one lift into a hovering helicopter. The identificaton tags
of the crewmembers were placed with the remains. Weather conditions and enemy
action would not permit helicopters to make the extraction either that day or
the day following.

The remains of the crew and passengers aboard Jolly Green 26 were never
recovered. Although the location of the crash is known, the bodies of the crew
and recon team who died still lie on foreign soil. The five are among nearly 600
Americans lost in Laos. Not one prisoner was released from Laos, and few remains
have been recovered.

While it is a great sadness to know a loved one is dead and his body is lying
far from home, the greater tragedy is those known to have been prisoners of war
who did not return, and those who are missing in action.

Since the war ended, "several million documents" and "over 250,000 interviews"
have been reviewed relating to Americans prisoner, missing or unaccounted for in
Southeast Asia. Many officials who have reviewed this largely-classified
information are convinced that hundreds of Americans are still alive in
captivity today.

These reports increase the agony for families who want to know what happened to
their sons, fathers and brothers. If, as the U.S. Government seems to believe,
all the men are dead, it's time the information was declassified so that all can
understand the fates of these heroes. If, as many believe, men are still alive,
it's time they were brought home to bring the war in Vietnam to an honorable
end.