THE WALL OF FACES

Thank you for your service to our country so long ago sir. As long as you are remembered you will remain in our hearts forever….

Dear Captain Steven Howard, Thank you for your service as a Rotary Wing Aviation Unit Commander - Helicopter Pilot. Please watch over America, it stills needs your strength, courage and faithfulness. Rest in peace with the angels.

Steve was my friend and mentor. His callsign was Hillclimber 36, I was Hillclimber 30. At the time of his crash, he was the platoon leader for the 3rd platoon of the 18th Corps Aviation Company. He also was the CH-47 (Chinook) Standardization Instructor Pilot. The mission he was on was not just a courier run as stated in a previous remembrance. He and his crew went to Saigon to attempt to slingload other Chinooks that had been damaged in a rocket attack. Steve was a good friend, an excellent pilot and the finest Christian soldier I ever knew. RIP my friend.

Dear Captain Steven Dale Howard, 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

While operating in the Dinh Tuong Province with a crew of five and 17 passengers on board, 69-17119 was struck in flight by a SA-7 'Strella' shoulder launched heat seeking missile. The aircraft crashed into a flooded rice field in the Mekong Delta, southwest of Saigon, and was destroyed. There were no survivors. The helicopter was on a courier run from Saigon to Can Tho when it was hit near My Tho, about 35 miles from Saigon. The crew consisted of CAPT Steven D. Howard, CW2 Ronald L. Vanlandingham, SP5 David E. Wischemann, SP4 Richard B. Freeman, and SP4 Timothy A. Thomas. Passengers included SP4 James D. Brown, SP4 Louis O. Calderon, SP4 Roger R. Chambliss, SP4 Raymond L. Goodchild, SP4 Milton C. Hunter, SP4 Charles L. Stewart Jr., SP4 Delbert R. Wood, CAPT Dennis W. Finnegan, SSGT Charles A. McSwiney Jr., and 1LT Kenneth J. Spencer. [Taken from vhpa.org]