14 Oct 2006 From Garry D. Marsh: "I met Harry on my second tour in Viet Nam 1969 and 70. I worked and flew with Harry for several months before we lost him. For all of those that knew him he was a great person to be around. He was funny guy that almost always made you want to laugh and smile. "The day he didn't return was a shock to everyone. My memories of that day are thirty years old but they seem very clear even though I wasn't on this particular mission. As I remember the flight was some sort of insertion or resupply. "The LZ was what we called a two wheel zone. In other words there wasn't room to land the helicopter, you could only set the main gear down and had to hover the nose of the aircraft while you loaded or unloaded people/cargo. This LZ was reportedly on a hillside so they not only were short on room but they had to back the aircraft into the landing area. "The report from the flight crew was a little vague. While they were in the LZ there was reported ground fire and there was also a wind condition. As they were backing into the LZ, Harry was looking out the right rear emergency exit clearing the rear of the aircraft when the nose pitched up and the aft main rotors struck the hillside. "When the rotors struck the hill the aircraft broke in two. The forward portion slid several yards down the hill where the pilot and gunners escaped. Harry was reportedly pinned under the right rear stub wing and his body was not able to be recovered at the time." Sergeant Harry Wilson is my "Adopted" MIA. Please visit my memorial site Tim Kenney cobra74@cobra74creations.com

 

A Note from The Virtual Wall On 04 June 1970 HMM-262 was tasked with extracting a MACV-SOG recon team operating in Laos. The extract team consisted of the pick-up aircraft, CH-46A BuNo 153403, two H-53s, and four Cobra gunships. According to the HMM-262 Command Chronology, the CH-46 was hit by automatic weapons fire and crashed in the pick-up zone. Sergeant Wilson was fatally injured, the pilot received severe injuries, and the other crewmen survived with moderate injury. One MACV-SOG soldier, 1LT Mark H. Rivest of Springfield, Massachussetts, is known to have been killed in action in Laos on 04 June while leading a reaction platoon. The Virtual Wall cannot determine if 1LT Rivest was associated with the recon team being extracted.

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