27 Oct 1997 Orval and I were among a group of young men who went to boot camp together as Co. B-4-1 at Fort Polk then Army helicopter flight school at Fort Wolters and Fort Rucker. A story about our flight school class. As you can imagine, Orval was frequently teased, in a friendly manner, because his first name was similar to Orville Wright's name. He accepted the teasing with grace and pleasure. Orval was well liked and respected by his peers. Had Orval not been killed in Vietnam, I know he would have been a positive influence in the lives of those who would know him. Jim Schueckler flewhuey@FrontierNet.net

 

A Note from The Virtual Wall At about 0500 on 5 October the medevac center at Mai Loc received a request from Fire Base Scotch to pick up two American soldiers who had been seriously injured in a bunker cave-in. The 326th Med alert helicopter crew at Mai Loc was briefed for a night flight in bad weather, and the medevac pilot requested that a Huey flare ship accompany him to provide illumination for the pick-up. The medevac Huey was crewed by WO1 Orval Arthur Baldwin, pilot WO1 Rocky D. Armstead, copilot SP5 Steven E. Arnold, medic SP5 Hubert Daniel Sutton, crew chief The flare ship departed first and once airborne received a call from the medevac UH-1H (tail number 67-19515) indicating that the weather was hampering their flight. The medevac returned to Mai Loc and began the flight to FB Scotch over again, only to fail once more in penetrating the weather. While returning to Mai Loc to await sunrise before a third try, the aircraft commander elected to fly at very low altitude in an effort to operate below the clouds. The aircraft apparently rolled inverted and crashed, possibly as a result of weather-induced vertigo. All four men died in the crash.

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