JOHN DEWEY KILLEN III
JOHN D KILLEN III
22E/88
REMEMBRANCES
My first album Love
We were just crazy about each other. It was the best kind of love. It was pure sweet fun. We would spend hours on the phone, you at your home, me at mine, watching Tarzan and Jane movies on Friday nights. You were always making funny comments that kept me laughing. You were so witty. Quite a romance for two eighth graders. You were the first person I gave my heart too.
We were young and lost touch with each other , except for a dream. In the summer of "66" I shot up from a sleep , I had seen a crash of a helicopter engulfed in flames. My exact thought was "Johnny is dead ". I watched the local news for days to hear if his name was given and it was. To this day, when I think of a fallen hero taken too young I think of you, Johnny. In memory to you, Sharon Goeders Kouri
Final Mission of U.S. Marine Corps helicopter CH-46A tail number 152501
CAPT John A. House was the pilot of an CH46A helicopter carrying personnel assigned to Company A, 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion, 3rd Marine Division near the city of Phu Bai, South Vietnam on June 30, 1967. Among the passengers onboard the aircraft were members of Company A, LCPL Merlin R. Allen, LCPL John D. Killen III, and CPL Glyn L. Runnels. Also onboard was the company's hospital corpsman, HM3 Michael B. Judd. As the helicopter approached the landing zone, the aircraft was hit by small arms fire. The aircraft was severely damaged but was able to fly for about a half mile before it crash landed in a thick jungle canopy. Co-pilot Ted Pittman managed to escape along with two enlisted crew members and four of an eight man reconnaissance team. Prior to being rescued, two of the lesser injured reconnaissance team members returned to the scene of the crash and verified the crash scene. It was reported that CAPT House was not injured from fire or the crash, but tree branches stopped his exit from the helicopter and just before he was able to get free the aircraft exploded. Although some of the personnel aboard survived, House, Allen, Judd, Runnels, and Killen were never found, nor were remains recovered that could be identified as theirs. The four men were listed as killed in action, body not recovered. [Taken from vhpa.org]