Dale Edward Greife

The database page for Dale Edward Greife

02 May 2006 Dale Edward Greife began his tour on Oct 23, 1969 and he was killed on Jun 10, 1970 in Pleiku Province in the central highlands of South Vietnam. WO Greife was a graduate of Rotary Wing Flight classes 69-27 and 69-25. His Wall location is 09W-038 WO Greife was an UH-1H Aircraft Commander flying in the vicinity of the Jurai Montagnard village of Edap Enang ("Tin City"), near Duc Co, a SOG Camp west of Pleiku in the Central Highlands. His UH-1H experienced a broken transmission strap and while banking sharply to avoid hostile ground fire during low level flight his aircraft experienced an engine failure. WO Greife and his crew chief SP5 Ronald Rash died when their Huey crashed into trees. "Our UH-1H experienced a broken transmission strap while avoiding hostile ground fire. We lost power moments later. I believe it was an engine failure. WO1 Greife managed to recover control and attempted to autorotate into an opening in the jungle below. There was not enough airspeed and altitude available to complete the maneuver to reach the cleared area. We struck the trees in a nose low attitude after a valiant attempt by WO1 Greife to trade airspeed, altitude and rotor RPM for glide distance. We crashed about 200 feet short of clearing the last tree line. WO1 Greife and SP5 Rash died on impact. The gunner SP4 Cox and I were rescued by a CW2 Sottile from the 189th several hours later. We were flown to the 77th Evac Hospital at Pleiku. I was off flight duty for 2 1/2 months but remained in country. After medical rehabilitation I returned to flight duty and completed my tour." - Dave York - Aircraft: UH-1H tail number 66-16409 Call sign: Ghostrider 11 Pilot, WO1 Dale Edward Greife, KIA Copilot, W1 William Dave York Crew Chief, SP5 Ronald Wayne Rash, KIA Gunner, E4 W L Cox John M. Salonich Cpt. USAR vanya189@yahoo.com

17 Jan 2007 I flew several missions with Dale. He was a tall and lanky and very down to earth guy. He was a very good pilot and fun to be around. I was a crew chief and gunner. I remember the time we flew to Ben Het and had to spend the night there. It was very spooky and we were glad to leave there the next morning. I remember Dale and I playing hearts {cards} - he would always beat me. It hurt real bad to lose Dale and other pilots, door gunners, and crew chiefs. I have always missed Dale and will never forget him. Dale was a true "Ghostrider". Al Sena alsena@cox.net

The point-of-contact for this memorial is someone who served with Dale, John M. Salonich, Captain USAR vanya189@yahoo.com

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With all respect
Jim Schueckler, former CW2, US Army
Ken Davis, Commander, United States Navy (Ret)
Memorial first published on 02 May 2006
Last updated 05/25/2007