Leonard Selanikio

The database page for Leonard Selanikio

10 Apr 2008 REMEMBERED by his soulmate, Victoria Bruner victoria.bruner@na.amedd.army.mil

A Note from The Virtual Wall On 06 Sep 1968 a C-130E (tail number 62-1785) from the 345th Tac Alft Sqdn crashed at Tam Phat Airfield near Bao Loc, killing five crewmen: Major Eugene W. Hartman, Silver Spring, MD, navigator; Capt David H. Risher, Washington, DC, pilot; Capt Leonard Selanikio, West Islip, NY, copilot; TSgt Ralph J. Lund, Johnstown, NY, crew chief; and Sgt Jesus Ochoa, Tucson, AZ, loadmaster. The casualty database has the incident coded as a hostile-fire loss, and Hobson's Vietnam Air Losses says the aircraft received ground fire about a mile south of the airfield - but Hobson also reports that one source says the aircraft crashed into a mountain during a bad-weather approach to landing. This discrepancy is explained in the Department of Defense casualty reports published at the time. The deaths of the five men were first reported as due to non-hostile causes in DoD press releases 834-68 (09 Sep 68) and 836-68 (10 Sep 68). The post-incident investigation turned up evidence indicating the loss was due to hostile action and the five men were reclassified as killed in action in DoD press release 885-68 (27 Sep 68):

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With all respect
Jim Schueckler, former CW2, US Army
Ken Davis, Commander, United States Navy (Ret)
Memorial first published on 10 Apr 2008
Last updated 08/10/2009