17 Sep 2001 REMEMBERED by a friend, Kevin E-mail address is not available.

 

A Note from The Virtual Wall At about 0740, 31 Oct 1968, a 54th Signal Battalion UH-1H (tail number 66-16524) departed Nha Trang Air Base on an administrative flight to the battalion's outlying sites. Eleven men were aboard, four aircrew and seven passengers. A brief stop was made at Dong Ba Thin where one passenger deplaned. At 0835 the aircraft departed Nha Trang West, and at 0840 made a "Mayday" call to the Nha Trang Air Base tower reporting that the Huey was going down about 5 miles north of Nha Trang. The aircraft then crashed and burned. The accident board concluded the Huey lost all or a portion of a tail rotor blade, which led to failure of the tail rotor gearbox and loss of control. All ten men still aboard the aircraft died in the crash: Aircrew (A Co, 54th Sig Bn): CWO Steven I. Cavin, Norfolk, VA, pilot WO Paul R. Driscoll, Monument Beach, MA, copilot SP4 Donald H. Bartlett, Stonington, ME, crew chief SP4 Joseph M. Bowman, York, PA, gunner Passengers: 1LT Philip J. Battaglia, Orlando, FL, A Co, 54th Sig Bn 1LT Donald F. Fletcher, Kingsport, TN, HHC, 459th Sig Bn 1LT Larry K. Hendee, Round Lake, IL, B Co, 54th Sig Bn 1LT Alfred R. Mahoney, Pasadena, CA, A Co, 54th Sig Bn SFC Faris E. Holland, Bellbrook, OH, HHC, 459th Sig Bn SP4 Patrick B. Epps, Jamaica, NY, A Co, 54th Sig Bn

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