THE WALL OF FACES

Bruno A. Hochmuth

Navy Distinguished Service Medal
AWARDED FOR ACTIONS
DURING Vietnam War
Service: Marine Corps
Division: 3d Marine Division
GENERAL ORDERS:

CITATION:
SYNOPSIS: Major General Bruno A. Hochmuth (MCSN: 0-5117), United States Marine Corps, was awarded the Navy Distinguished Service Medal (Posthumously) for exceptionally meritorious and distinguished service in a position of great responsibility to the Government of the United States as Commanding General, THIRD Marine Division, in the Republic of Vietnam during the period from 19 March through 14 November 1967. His singularly distinctive accomplishments and his dedicated contributions in the service of his country reflect the highest credit upon himself and were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Marine Corps and the United States Naval Service.

Bruno A. Hochmuth

Legion of Merit
AWARDED FOR ACTIONS
DURING World War II
Service: Marine Corps
Battalion: 3d Battalion
Division: 6th Marine Division
GENERAL ORDERS:
Heroes U.S. Marine Corps, 1861 - 1955: Jane Blakeney
CITATION:
SYNOPSIS: Major Bruno A. Hochmuth (MCSN: 0-5117), United States Marine Corps, was awarded the Legion of Merit with Combat "V" for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services to the Government of the United States as Commanding Officer, Third Battalion, Fourth Marines, at Okinawa during the period from 1 April through 21 June 1945.

MCRD was my first active duty post after a direct commission as a Navy optometrist (Medical Service Corps). I reported aboard on 1 January 1966. One my first duties was to attend an interview with the CG, MGEN Hochmuth, on 2 Jan 1966 along with other newly assigned officers. I wore my newly acquired Marine Corps greens to the meeting and thought I looked very sharp. After the intial pleasantries, General Hochmuth looked at me and announced that "Dr. Lewis, you are out of uniform". A little mystified, I wondered what I had done wrong. It turned out that I was wearing my Navy tie clip, which was a plain gold bar without the Marine Corp insignia. He quickly put me at ease with a laugh and, taking off his own tie clip, handed it to me. I put it on and was "now in uniform" and wore that tie clip for the rest of my military career.

Many years later, I transferred custody of the tie clip to a newly minted Marine Corps officer who was a high school classmate of my son and was going on active duty after graduating from NROTC at Colgate University.

On November 14, 1967, a U.S. Marine Corps helicopter UH-1E (tail number 153737) from VMO-3 was a single ship VIP flight for the commanding general of the 3rd Marine Division. The official USMC history states that the aircraft crashed inverted in a flooded rice paddy and that there was still a fuel fire burning when the CO of the 4th Marines arrived in another helicopter. This party landed on a dike and walked to the crashed UH-1E. They put the fire out and had to dive under water to get the bodies out. There were six KIAs in the crash. The lost crewmembers included pilots CAPT Thomas A. Carter and CAPT Milton G. Kelsey, and crew chief CPL Ronald J. Phelps. The three passengers were MGEN Bruno A. Hochmuth, MAJ Robert A. Crabtree, and an unknown ARVN advisor to MGEN Hochmuth. The following is an eyewitness account of the incident from a pilot of the administrative chase helicopter: (After visiting an RVN hospital pad at Hue) the General's party arrived back at the aircraft about 1145 and we departed north along Highway #1 toward Dong Ha, our next destination. We leveled off just underneath the overcast at approximately 1500 feet and about 90 knots airspeed. About 5 minutes after takeoff, at 1150, the UH-1E yawed slightly right and left and at the same instant exploded in mid-air. The explosion appeared to emanate from the center portion of the aircraft (engine and aft cabin area). The whole aircraft was immediately engulfed in a large fire ball and dense black smoke. The fuselage separated from the rotor, and fragments flew in all directions. The rotor appeared to remain intact and the burning fuselage fell away in a near vertical descent. Because of the dense smoke and my evasive action to fly clear of the falling debris, I was unable to observe the maneuvers of the fuselage on the way down or the impact. I transmitted the crash position and the circumstances on Guard channel and then descended to see if I could detect any survivors or assist. The fuselage was still burning though it was almost completely submerged in a flooded rice paddy. We hovered around the wreckage for 5-10 minutes but found no evidence of survivors. The crew chief spotted a hardhat about 100 meters from the fuselage and I hovered with the helicopter's wheels in the water while he debarked and retrieved it, but he was unable to find any survivors in the vicinity. We then climbed back to altitude and transmitted our observations on guard. We remained in the area until other aircraft were dispatched to relive us on station. I observed no weapons fire at the time of the explosion, nor did I receive any fire while hovering around the crash scene. (From MAJ John A. Chancey) [Taken from vhpa.org and popasmoke.com; image from popasmoke.com]

so very proud of you and all the men who served, in the terrible conflict. Much love and appreciation from all our family.