James Douglas Smith
Chief Warrant Officer
A TRP, 3RD SQDN, 17TH CAVALRY, 1ST AVIATION BDE, USARV
Army of the United States
San Jose, California
March 07, 1944 to July 23, 1968
JAMES D SMITH is on the Wall at Panel W51, Line 44

armyavnx.gif
 
phambase.gif
 
James D Smith
usarv.gif 1avnbde.gif 17cavrgt.gif

 
14 Aug 2002

Jim was the boy next door,
literally,
and my first kiss
so I remember you always.

From a friend,
Donna Stephenson
fairbanks101@yahoo.com


 

The Mission

On 23 July 1968, A Troop, 3rd Squadron, 17th Cavalry, was conducting a troop insertion mission in Long An Province east of Tan An, near the coast. A scout helicopter (OH-6A tail number 65-12985, crewed by 1LT Douglas D. Chaney and SP5 Francis D. Johnson) went down. The lift platoon command and control ship (UH-1H tail number 66-16060), under the command of Chief Warrant Officer James D. Smith, landed under heavy fire. CW2 Smith left his aircraft to go to the aid of the downed aircrew. After Smith left his aircraft, the UH-1H continued to receive fire. Crew chief SP4 Bruce R. Wenban was mortally wounded, and the UH-1H copilot was forced to lift off in order to save his aircraft and remaining crewmembers.

An eye-witness in another UH-1H reported that

"The crew of another aircraft and I repeatedly tried to land and get them, but we were driven off by small arms fire. Chaney was found dead in the cockpit, probably shot just before or after landing. I clearly saw the other pilot Smith from the C&C Huey outside the ship, behind a rice paddy dike away from the source of ground fire. I thought he would be okay until the infantry reached him a little while later, since we could cover all the open area near him. I was wrong - he had been shot dead when reached, all his .38 pistol ammunition expended."
Charles E. "Chuck" Oualline, jan@texas.net
Taken from the VHPA report on 65-12985
Four men died in the incident - 1LT Chaney and SP5 Johnson aboard the OH-6A and CW2 Smith and SP4 Wenban aboard the UH-1H.

Contact Us © Copyright 1997-2019 www.VirtualWall.org, Ltd ®(TM) Last update 08/15/2019.