| The Incident
When North Vietnam began to
increase its military strength in South Vietnam, NVA and Viet
Cong troops again intruded on neutral Laos for sanctuary, as the
Viet Minh had done during the war with the French some years
before. This border road was used by the Communists to transport
weapons, supplies and troops from North Vietnam into South
Vietnam, and was frequently no more than a path cut through the
jungle covered mountains. US forces used all assets available to
them to stop this flow of men and supplies from moving south into
the war zone.
On 9 June 1968 US Coast Guard
Lt. Jack C. Rittichier, pilot; and US Air Force Capt. Richard C.
Yeend, Jr., Co-pilot; SSgt. Elmer L. Holden, flight engineer; and
Sgt. James D. Locker, Pararescueman; comprised the crew of a HH3E
helicopter (tail #67-14710), call sign "Jolly Green 23." Their
mission was to rescue a downed Marine Corps A-4E Skyhawk pilot,
1st Lt. Walter R. Schmidt, call sign "Hellborne 215," who was
downed in the northern end of the infamous A Shau Valley, Thua
Thien Province, South Vietnam.
At 1020 hours, 1st Lt.
Schmidt's aircraft was struck by ground fire after making a
bombing run on an enemy position. His aircraft continued to the
northwest and crashed in the densely forested mountains
approximately 5 miles northwest of the northern edge of the A
Shau Valley, 2 miles northeast of the South Vietnamese/Lao border
and the same distance southwest of a primary road leading from
the Ho Chi Minh Trail. This road ran east/west from the border
eastward to a point near the northern tip of the A Shau Valley.
It then turned south-southeast running along the full length of
the east side of the dense jungle covered valley.
Walter Schmidt was seen to
eject from his crippled Skyhawk and descend safely to the ground.
Other pilots saw his parachute caught in trees and were able to
immediately establish voice contact with him. He reported to the
other pilots that he sustained a broken leg while ejecting and
was unable to move. Search and rescue (SAR) aircraft were
immediately called to pick up the downed pilot, and as they
arrived on site, NVA troops were observed approaching Walter
Schmidt's position.
Jolly Green 23 quickly moved
into the rescue area and hovered over the rugged jungle covered
mountains approximately 9 miles northwest of the A Shau Valley
floor near the downed pilot. As the helicopter attempted to pick
up Walter Schmidt, it was struck by heavy enemy ground fire and
seen to fall to the ground in flames and disintegrate upon impact
by the onsite Forward Air Controller (FAC) just to the west of a
primary road used by the communists to infiltrate troops and
supplies into South Vietnam from the Ho Chi Minh Trail. The
location of loss was approximately 1300 meters northeast of the
village of Ka Kou, 12 miles northwest of the village of A Luoi,
25 miles southeast of Khe Sanh and 29 miles west-southwest of
Hue. This location was also 4 miles north of the South
Vietnamese/Lao border, near the border between Thua Thien and Hue
Provinces.
Another aircraft flew over the
wreckage, but its crew saw no survivors and heard no emergency
beeper signals. Because of the intense enemy presence in the
area, no ground search was possible. At the time the formal SAR
was terminated, Jack Rittichier, Richard Yeend, Elmer Holden and
James Locker were immediately listed Killed in Action/Body Not
Recovered.
On 12 October 1991 a villager
turned in to the "Office PA15 - Public Security", Dong Ngi
Province, Vietnam, a dog tag and remains reportedly belonging to
Lt. Rittichier. The information on the dog tag correlates with
the correct data for Jack Rittichier. That information was
provided to US personnel; however, the dog tag and remains were
not turned over by the Vietnamese. There was no information
provided by the villager as to the fate of Elmer Holden, James
Locker or Richard Yeend.
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