THE WALL OF FACES

Dear Sgt Ronald Holtzman, Thank you for your service as an Infantryman. You are still MIA. Please come home. It was just Independence Day, and there is no better time to honor you. Please watch over the USA, it still needs your strength. Be at peace.

On August 24, 1967, pilot WO Dayton Witherall, aircraft commander WO Richard N. Morrison, gunner SP4 Richard L. Holtzman, crew chief SP4 Richard M. Allard, and passengers 2LT Kenneth B. Goff, 2LT Ronald J. Schell, SMAJ John R. Ulp, 1LT Sterling A. Wall, and Miss Cynthia Colburn were aboard a UH-1C helicopter (serial #66-12526) which departed Polei Kleng, South Vietnam to Plei Krong, South Vietnam on a combat support liaison mission. The 4th Infantry, with the assistance of the 25th Infantry Division and 1st Cavalry (Airmobile), was at that time conducting an operation called Paul Revere IV, a continuing effort near the Cambodian border of Pleiku Province. The UH1H flying over Pleiku Province that day in August 1966 was flying out of Pleiku, where its crew and passengers were stationed. (NOTE: While the U.S. Army and describes the flight mission as combat-related, it also acknowledges that Ms. Colburn was on the aircraft, a situation which was "illegal", as women serving in Vietnam were not supposed to be placed in combat situations. It is not clear in public record why she was on the aircraft, although Phyllis Allard, Richard Allard's mother, has said that the aircraft was carrying passengers enroute from a hospital and that Colburn was a Red Cross worker.) During the flight, the pilot elected to fly low-level along the Dak Bla River. While attempting a 180 degree turn, the aircraft failed to recover and was caught in a severe downdraft and crashed into the Krong Bo Lah River in about 10 feet of water at a point where the current was swift and the water was deep. (NOTE: loss coordinates place the site of loss unquestionably on the Se San River about 15 miles southwest of the city of Kontum, and about 28 miles due south of the city of Dak To. Just south of Dak To is the juncture of the Se San and another river. Whether at this juncture the two rivers have other names cannot be determined with materials on hand at the time of this writing. Information provided by family members states that the aircraft landed in the "bottomless, rapid Boc River called Dak Bla".) Rescue helicopters arrived 10 - 45 minutes after the crash and rescued WO Morrison, WO Witherall, Ms. Colburn and SMAJ Ulp, after their having been swept several hundred feet downstream. 2LT Goff, SP4 Allard and 2LT Schell were not seen by any of the survivors after the crash. SP4 Holtzman was seen by WO Morrison, who stated that Holtzman was wearing a flight jacket, armor plate, and a flak jacket, and called out to Morrison that he could not swim. WO Morrison stated that Holtzman drifted away in the swift current before he could help him. Later searches of the area revealed several pieces of debris, but the aircraft itself was not found. In September, Lt. Wall's body was retrieved from the river. Searches were conducted through December 26, but neither the aircraft nor the four missing men aboard it were found. [Narrative taken from pownetwork.org; image from wikipedia.org]

Dear SGT Ronald Lee Holtzman, sir

As an American, I would like to thank you for your service and for your sacrifice made on behalf of our wonderful country. The youth of today could gain much by learning of heroes such as yourself, men and women whose courage and heart can never be questioned.

May God allow you to read this, and may He allow me to someday shake your hand when I get to Heaven to personally thank you. May he also allow my father to find you and shake your hand now to say thank you; for America, and for those who love you.

With respect, and the best salute a civilian can muster for you, Sir

Curt Carter

On August 24, 1967, a helicopter from the 119th Assault Helicopter Company, 52nd Combat Aviation Battalion, 4th Infantry Division, with nine men on board was returning on low level flight to the Division's base. While flying down the Dak Bla River at an altitude of thirty feet, the helicopter began to turn around to check out a sighting of unidentified persons along the river bank. The pilot made a turn and cyclic climb over a hilltop causing the airspeed to diminish. The pilot entered a dive to regain airspeed but failed to recover before striking the water nose low. The aircraft sank. Four on board were rescued. SP4 Ronald L. Holtzman was in contact with the pilot after the crash but was swept away in the swift moving ten foot deep river and was later declared deadbody not recovered. The other personnel lost in this incident included SFC Richard. M. Allard, 2LT Kenneth B. Goff, 2LT Richard J. Schell, and 1LT Sterling A. Wall. The area the men were declared missing was searched by Special Forces personnel from Forward Operating Base 2 but without success. A later search of the area on December 26, 1969, found the river ten feet higher than when the aircraft first crashed into the river. [Taken from vhpa.org]

Ronald is buried at Winchester National Cemetery. AM-17OLC ARCOM PH