07 Jul 2007 David was like a big brother to me. David was the average American male growing up in a small quiet community in Georgia when he joined the army to do his part in the fight for freedom. He was a tall slim man who always stood up for what he believed in. He loved spending time in the woods with his hunting dogs. He taught me most everything I know about hunting and surviving in the wilderness. If you have ever watched the TV show "Daniel Boone" then you have a pretty good idea what David was like. I would like to mention three friends of David's whose lives were lost in Vietnam while serving this great country. They are Ray Arvid Bailey, Douglas Frank Strait, and William Cahill whose helicopter was shot down on Oct 18, 1970, the day before David was killed. David will always be missed. Please visit my personal memorial site. From his first cousin, Don Sullivan sullivan31093@yahoo.com

 

A Note from The Virtual Wall On his personal memorial page, Mr. Sullivan writes that "David was killed near Phouc Vinh, South Vietnam from a head wound when the helicopter he was in received enemy ground fire while searching for a good friend of his named Rae Arvid Bailey whose helicopter got shot down the day before in the same area. Along with Rae Bailey was pilot William (Bill) Cahill and Doug Strait when they took ground fire and crashed into thick jungle." The three men mentioned, all from C Troop 1/9 Cav, were in OH-6A tail number 67-16193: WO William J. Cahill, Haverhill, MA SP4 Rae A. Bailey, Clemons, NY SP4 Douglas F. Strait, Moses Lake, WA SP4 Strait's body was not recovered from the wreckage, and he was carried as Missing in Action until 17 Nov 1975 when the Secretary of the Army approved a Presumptive Finding of Death. The Vietnam Helicopter Pilots' Association database has a note on Warrant Officer Cahill's record that he was "Shot down after discovering COSVN HQ near Phouc Vinh." The VHPA report on 67-16193 says that it went down at grid coordinates YT178415, on the western edge of Long Khanh Province. However, the Army's record for SP4 Strait says he was lost at YT815422, a point 64 kilometers to the east of the VHPA position in Binh Thuy Province. The Army records for WO Cahill and SP4 Bailey do not have grid coordinates, but they do say the loss was in Binh Thuy Province. Further confusion is introduced by the mention of Phuoc Vinh which is in Binh Duong Province, a hundred kilometers or more northeast of the Binh Thuy location and even further away from the Long Khanh location. Grid coordinates are not available for Sergeant Bryant's aircraft, OH-6A tail number 69-15987 - but his record says the loss was in Long Khanh Province - nowhere near Phuoc Vinh, and possibly nowhere near the 67-16193 crash site. Mr. Sullivan also advises that Sergeant Bryant , an artilleryman by training, began his tour with Battery B, 2nd Battalion, 17th Artillery. The photo below shows Bryant with one of his battery's 105mm howitzers.

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