THE WALL OF FACES

Thank you for your service to or country so long ago sir. I am heartened you returned home after the passage of so many years though I wish it had been under very different circumstances. May you rest in eternal peace.

May those who served never be forgotten. Rest in peace SMS. Harworth, I salute your brave soul. My heart goes out to you and your family.

Dear SMSgt Elroy Harworth,
Thank you for your service as an Aircraft Loadmaster Technician. I am glad you were identified in 1986. Welcome Home. It is Holy Week. The war was years ago, but we all need to acknowledge the sacrifices of those like you who answered our nation's call. Please watch over America, it stills needs your strength, courage and faithfulness. Rest in peace with the angels.

At 1:10 AM on May 30, 1966, a USAF Lockheed C-130E Hercules (#64-0511) departed Da Nang Airbase on a tactical mission into North Vietnam. It was carrying several floating mass-focus bombs in an attempt to blow up the Thanh Hoa Bridge over the Song Ma River. The plan necessitated two C-130 aircraft dropping the weapon, a rather large pancake-shaped affair 8 feet in diameter and 2 1/2 feet thick and weighing 5,000 pounds. The C-130's would fly below 500 feet to evade radar along a 43-mile route (which meant the C-130 would be vulnerable to enemy attack for about 17 minutes), and drop the bombs, which would float down the Song Ma River where it would pass under the bridge and detonate when sensors in the bomb detected the metal of the bridge structure. The first attempt the previous night by a different C-130 crew had been unsuccessful. The second flight was by MAJ Thomas F. Case, whom had been through extensive training for the mission at Elgin AFB, Florida, and had been deployed to Vietnam only two weeks before. Operational necessity required minimum radio communications. At about two minutes prior to the scheduled C-130 drop time, F-4 fighters making diversionary attacks saw anti-aircraft fire and a large ground flash in the bridge vicinity. MAJ Case and his crew were never seen or heard from again. When a reasonable time had elapsed after scheduled down time, the aircraft and crew were officially declared Missing in Action. An intensive and continuing search was organized and launched involving over 16 aircraft and ships of the Air Force and Navy with negative results. The lost crew included pilot MAJ Case, co-pilot 1LT Harold J. Zook, navigators 1LT William R. Edmondson and 1LT Armon D. Shingledecker, flight engineer SSGT Bobby J. Alberton, weapon systems officer CAPT Emmett R. McDonald, and loadmasters A1C Elroy E. Harworth and A1C Phillip J. Stickney. To date, the remains of only three crewmen have been accounted for: Harold J. Zook, remains returned April 10, 1986; Thomas F. Case, remains returned February 1987; and Elroy E. Harworth, remains returned April 10, 1986. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org and pownetwork.org]

Senior Master Sergeant Elroy Edwin Harworth, Served with the 61st Troop Carrier Squadron, 64th Troop Carrier Wing, 7th Air Force.