31 Jan 2005 He loved his country, family and the American way of life. I am proud to have known him.

 

A Note from The Virtual Wall At dawn on 20 Oct 1970 an aero scout team from B Company, 123rd Aviation Battalion, departed Chu Lai Army Air Field to conduct a "first light" visual recon mission southwest of Chu Lai. The team consisted of an OH-6A which would operate at low altitude; an AH-1G Cobra gunship which provided fire support and mission direction while flying at about 1000 feet; and a UH-1 with an infantry squad aboard in trail at 1500 feet. During the mission the scout team came across an infantry unit which had called in an emergency medevac. While the OH-6 worked in the vicinity of the ground unit, the Cobra crew (flying at a higher altitude) watched the UH-1 medevac aircraft arrive, land, load, and take off to return to Chu Lai. He realized that the OH-6 and the medevac UH-1 were on a possible collision course, with both aircraft at low altitudes and moving around opposite sides of the same hill, the UH-1 in a clockwise direction and the OH-6 in a counter-clockwise direction. The AH-1 crew advised the OH-6 crew of the danger and received an acknowledgement from the OH-6 pilot - but very shortly thereafter the UH-1 and the OH-6 collided. SP4 Cady was flying as crew chief in the OH-6A; while his two crewmates survived, Cady and the six men in the medevac UH-1 died in the incident: In medevac UH-1H tail number 66-16617 (no survivors): CWO Terence A. Handley, Portland, OR, 68th Med Det, pilot 1LT Kenneth M. Schlie, Vienna, VA, 54th Med Det, copilot SP4 Thomas R. Weiss, Glenbeulah, WI, 571st Med Det, crew chief SP4 Harold C. Gay, Wilson, NC, 54th Med Det, medic SP4 Alexander Campbell, Fayetteville, NC, C Co, 4/3 Infantry CPL Larry W. Kilgore, Lees Summit, MO, C Co, 4/3 Infantry In OH-6A tail number 69-16023: WO B. J. Straup, pilot; survived SP4 Gary R. Cady, Spokane, WA, crew chief; died SP4 G. A. Shawver, gunner; survived

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