Remains of 7 killed in Vietnam helicopter crash returned
By Karen Blakeman
Advertiser Staff Writer
Nearly 300 service members and civilians watched today as seven flag-draped caskets were unloaded from an Air Force C-17 at Hickam Air Force Base as the remains of the men killed in the crash of their Vietnam helicopter last week were returned to Hawai'i.
The Americans died along with nine Vietnamese last Saturday when their Russian-built MI-17 helicopter slammed into a fog-shrouded mountain in central Quang Binh province, about 250 miles south of Hanoi.
The seven men were part of a team that was scouting excavations for six MIA crash sites next month.
A color guard dipped flags as each casket carried by pallbearers from the Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps moved one at a time from the rear of the plane to a line of waiting white hearses. Military men and women lining the air strip and the balconies of a Hickam operations building saluted each casket.
As the hearses drove away, a serviceman in the lead vehicle bowed his head, lifting a white-gloved hand to his eyes.
The bodies were taken to the Central Identification Laboratory Hawai'i for final identification. They could be returned to their families as early as next week.
"They were true heroes," Army Lt. Col. Franklin Childress, public affairs officer for the Hawai'i-based Joint Task Force - Full Accounting said before the plane landed. "They knew the risks. They knew the dangers. And every one of them volunteered."
All aboard the helicopter, flown by a Vietnamese pilot, were killed.
"I've been asked if it was worth it," Childress said today. "And all I can say is that if we were to say it were not worth it, we would be doing a great disservice to these men."
The ceremony today was solemn and without music, a marked contrast to one held at Hickam the day before that welcomed home the crew of the U.S. intelligence plane forced to make an emergency landing in China.
"Yesterday on this spot, 24 men and women returned to America with honor and to joyful families," Admiral Dennis C. Blair, commander in chief of U.S. Pacific Command, said during the ceremony. "Today seven men return to America, but to grieving families."
He listed the names of the men: Lt. Col. Rennie Cory, Lt. Col. "Marty" Martin, Maj. Charles Lewis, Chief Petty Officer "Pete" Gonzales, Master Sgt. Steve Moser, Sgt. First Class Tommy Murphy; and Technical Sgt. "Marty" Flynn.
"We can only say to the families who have suffered this loss that we grieve for your sons, husbands and brothers — our teammates," he said. "We honor their service; we renew our dedication to the cause they served. We will never forget them."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
