Civilians that were missing - families can contact the State Department - 202-647-6769

Families Can contact the following Numbers for up to- date information on a Missing Service member.

For the latest information, call the League's Update Line
(202) 659-0133
24-hours a day, and log onto the League web site:
www.pow-miafamilies.org

Name: Herbert Charles Crosby
Rank/Branch: O3/US Army
Unit: 71st Aviation Company, 14th Aviation Battalion, 16th Aviation Group,
23rd Infantry Division (Americal), Chu Lai
Date of Birth: 30 May 1947 (Ft. Wayne IN)
Home City of Record: South Georgia
Date of Loss: 10 January 1970
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 152927N 1081808E (BT239141)
Status (in 1973): Missing In Action
Category: 4
Acft/Vehicle/Ground: UH1C, "Firebirds"
Incident # 1547
Other Personnel In Incident: George A. Howes; Wayne C. Allen; Francis G. Graziosi (all missing)

Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 01 April 1991 from one or more of the following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews. Updated by the P.O.W. NETWORK with information from David Grieger, who served with Herbert Crosby.

REMARKS:
SYNOPSIS: On January 19, 1970, Capt. Herbert C. Crosby, pilot; WO George A. Howes, co-pilot; SP5 Wayne C. Allen, crew chief; and SP4 Francis G. Graziosi, door gunner; were flying a UH1C helicopter (serial #66-739) as the flight lead in a flight of three helicopter gun ships returning from Tien Phuoc to the unit  base at Chu Lai, South Vietnam.

(NOTE: Records differs as to the aircraft type on this incident. Some records show the aircraft type this crew was flying as UH1H, and some show it as a UH1C. Herbert Crosby flew Charlie models every day from at least July 1969 to January 1970. The serial number, #66-739 correlates to a C model, the first two numbers indicating that the aircraft had been made in 1966, and the H model
only had come out a few months before this time. Although C models were gun ships, and usually flew more or less independently, while this aircraft was  flying in tight formation as flight lead, which would correlate with the H model, it has been confirmed that the ship on which this crew was flying was
definitely a Charlie mod

At 1300 hours, the three helicopters departed the Special Forces camp at Tien Phuoc. Five to ten minutes later, due to instrument flight rules, Capt. Crosby directed the flight to change to a different flight heading. When the helicopters changed frequencies to contact Chu Lai ground control approach,
radio contact was lost with Capt. Crosby and was not regained.

The other two aircraft reached Chu Lai heliport, and at 1400 hours, search efforts were begun for the missing aircraft, although the crew was not found. According to a 1974 National League of Families report, George Howes survived he crash of this helicopter. The report further maintains that the loss
occurred in Laos, although the coordinates place it some 40-odd miles from that country.

A North Vietnamese prisoner released later reported that he had seen Howes in captivity the same month the helicopter went down. A second sighting by a villager in Phuoc Chouc (or Phouc Chau) village reported Howes and two other POWs stopped for water at his house in February, 1970, en route to Laos.

Whether these reports also relate to Allen, Crosby and Graziosi, is unknown. When the last American troops left Southeast Asia in 1975, some 2500 Americans were unaccounted for. Reports received by the U.S. Government since that time build a strong case for belief that hundreds of these "unaccounted for" Americans are still alive and in captivity.

"Unaccounted for" is a term that should apply to numbers, not men. We, as a nation, owe these men our best effort to find them and bring them home.Until the fates of the men like the UH1C crew are known, their families will wonder if they are dead or alive .. and why they were deserted

LETS NOT FORGET

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS POW/MIA DATABASE

WASHINGTON, Dec 13 (Reuters) 

The remains of 11 U.S. servicemen missing since the Vietnam War have been identified by forensic experts and are being returned to their families for burial in the United States, the Pentagon said on Monday.

Nine of the remains were found by joint search teams in Laos and two in Vietnam. They were identified by experts at the U.S. military's central identification laboratory in Hawaii.

The return of the remains leaves 2,032 U.S. troops still missing from the Vietnam War.

Eight of the 11 men were killed on May 15, 1966, when their AC-47D gun ship crashed in Laos during an armed reconnaissance mission.

The pilot of the plane, Air Force Col. George Jensen of Seattle, Washington, died along with Air Force Cols. Marshall Tapp of Los Angeles and Lavern Reilly of St. Paul, Minnesota; Air Force Maj. George Thompson of Beckley, West Virginia; Chief Master SSgt's. James Preston of Bowden, Georgia, James Williams of Oxford, Mississippi, and William Madison of Lexington, Kentucky; and Senior Master Sgt. Kenneth McKenney of Auburn, Massachusetts.

Army Staff Sgt. Tim Walters of South Bend, Indiana, died in the crash of an O-2A Super Sky master aircraft on a forward air control mission over Laos on March 9, 1969.

Army 1st Lt. James McQuade of Hoquiam, Washington, and Specialist James Hackett of Bradenton, Florida, were killed on June 11, 1972 when their OH-6A helicopter exploded in the air over South Vietnam as they were attempting to rescue the crew of a downed aircraft. The remains were located in joint searches conducted with Vietnamese and Laotian officials, the Defense Department said.

13:26 12-13-99

JOINT TASK FORCE-FULL ACCOUNTING PUBLIC AFFAIRS (808) 477-5301
RELEASE NO. #99-25
SEPT. 16, 1999

CAMP H.M. SMITH, HAWAII - A team of 98 mostly Hawaii-based U.S. military

specialists leave for Vietnam Friday (Sept. 17) evening with hopes of
recovering remains that may lead to the identification of American
service members listed as missing in action since the war in Southeast Asia.

On Tuesday, members from Joint Task Force-Full Accounting at Camp Smith
and the U.S. Army's Central Identification Lab at Hickam Air Force Base will
join technical representatives from the Socialist Republic of Vietnam to
begin joint investigations and remains recovery operations in 23 Vietnamese provinces and cities. Sixty-eight cases involving aircraft and ground losses are scheduled for investigation during the 30-day operation. There are six primary excavation sites and three alternate locations.

Since 1973, the remains of 529 American service members, formerly listed
as unaccounted for, have been identified and returned to their families.
There are currently 2,054 Americans still unaccounted-for from the war in Southeast Asia, 1,530 in Vietnam.

This will be the 42nd Joint Field Activity conducted in Vietnam, and the 103rd overall JFA in the tri-country region of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia since Joint Task Force-Full Accounting was formed in January 1992 at Camp Smith. The 98 team members are comprised of 46 U.S. Army, 21 Air Force, 12 Navy, 10 Marines, and nine Department of Defense civilians.

Page 2        Home