02 Jan 2008 To a true friend from flight school and will always be May you fly the highest, for the rest of us to see We all someday will join you and all may reminisce About the war that took you, for you are truly missed From a friend, Robert Dundas E-mail address is not available.

 

A Note from The Virtual Wall On 17 Sep 1971 the 61st Assault Helo Company was tasked with inserting an ROK recon patrol in the An Loa Valley about 19 kilometers west-southwest of Duc Pho. The insertion site, a small clearing on a hillside, precluded actually landing so the ten-man LRRP team would descend by ladder as the UH-1 hovered. As the last of the Koreans were reaching the ground the UH-1 pilot (CW2 James Jordan) was hit by sniper rounds and the tail rotor hit a tree. The Huey rolled inverted and crashed on top of the ROK troops, killing all of them. Although Joiner and both crewmen were able to escape from the wreckage, copilot Gary Butler was trapped; he died in the subsequent explosions and fire. The three survivors all were injured; Joiner had bullet wounds to the neck and shoulder and both crewmen were severely burned. None of them were able to respond to rescue attempts by the crew of a command-and-control aircraft but were recovered by a major from the C&C helo who went down by jungle penetrator and individually brought up the three men. At the time the bodies could not be recovered from the wreckage, but two weeks later a recovery mission was successfully conducted.

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