James Lee Shanks
Major
12TH AIR COMMANDO SQDN, 315TH AIR COMMANDO WING, 7TH AF
United States Air Force
Freeport, New York
April 13, 1930 to May 24, 1968
JAMES L SHANKS is on the Wall at Panel 69E, Line 2

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9 Jul 2004

REMEMBERED


 

A Note from The Virtual Wall

On 24 May 1968 six UC-123B aircraft from the 12th ACS were conducting a RANCHHAND herbicidal spray mission on a Viet Cong base camp area near Xom Rach Goc at the southernmost tip of South Vietnam. The flight received heavy automatic weapons fire during the run and on pulling off the number two aircraft, UC-123B tail number 54-0588, was trailing smoke and flames from its port engine. The Provider's left wing then caught fire, the aircraft went into an uncontrolled roll, and crashed about a mile off-shore. Although the body of one crewman was recovered, the other two were not:
  • LTC Emmett Rucker, Wichita Falls, TX, pilot, body not recovered
  • MAJ James L. Shanks, Freeport, NY, copilot, body not recovered
  • SGT Herbert E. Schmidt, Kansas City, MO, loadmaster

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