08 May 2004 Photo courtesy of Darilee Bodnar bookstorelady@prodigy.net Faces from the Wall

 

Notes from The Virtual Wall The HMM-364 Command Chronology states "On 27 July 1969 at 1530 hours, 17 miles SW of Da Nang, Quang Nam Province, RVN. Crew of YK-10 (bureau number 154018) of HMM-364 flying on an emergency medevac mission. Upon departure from the pick-up zone the aircraft received intense small arms fire and automatic fire. Aircraft impacted uncontrollably, exploded and burned. Aircraft consumed by fire. All crew and passengers were killed. Eleven lives were lost." Eye witnesses to the crash indicated it probably was due to both hydraulic boost systems being shot out which rendered the aircraft uncontrollable. The known American dead were 1stLt Robert William Armenio, pilot 1stLt Daunt Brunell Sanders, copilot GySgt Raymond Gibel, gunner HM1 Charles Lehman Hackworth, Corpsman, MAG-16 Cpl John Henry Harris Jr., gunner Cpl John Thomas McDaniel, crew chief LCpl Michael F Gramlick, gunner LCpl Leon Ross Barickman, passenger Lima 3/5 Marines PFC Ronald James Scharf, passenger, F Bty, 2/11 Marines While the Command Chronology states that "eleven lives were lost" the casualty database shows only nine Americans lost in the incident. The HMM-364 site indicates that one prisoner was aboard; on another site Robert Garcia states that he "was bumped off [the helicopter] because our wounded and the POW's took priority." It therefore seems certain that both the tenth and eleventh casualties were prisoners.

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