THE WALL OF FACES

Thank you for your service to our country so long ago sir. While all deaths in Vietnam are tragic that you died just five days after your 24th birthday is especially so. May you rest in eternal peace.

52 years later I still remember the empty feeling of being at 19 TAS operations office awaiting information about Rick’s flight.
Rick was a good person and a great roommate who I will always remember!

Dear Lt Frederick Rader, Thank you for your service as a Tactical Aircraft Pilot. Saying thank you isn't enough, but it is from the heart. It is Independence Day week. Time passes quickly. Please watch over America, it stills needs your strength, courage and faithfulness, especially now. Rest in peace with the angels.

I remember Rick as a kind respectful person who was fun to be with and liked by everyone. He always wore crew neck sweaters to parties that smelled of mothballs!

On November 27, 1970, a U.S. Air Force Fairchild C-123K Provider (#55-4574) from the 19th Tactical Airlift Squadron was enroute to Nha Trang from Tan Son Nhat when it went missing in central South Vietnam with 79 personnel on board (six U.S. and 73 Vietnamese). It was last heard from shortly after takeoff when there appeared to be no problems aboard. Search and rescue for the missing aircraft was hampered by bad weather. On December 7, 1970, the Provider was found in mountainous terrain approximately 17 miles southwest of Nha Trang in Khanh Hoa Province, RVN, where it had struck some trees on a ridge at an elevation of 4600 feet, some 500 feet below the top. A para-rescue team was inserted into the area but found no survivors. The lost Americans included aircraft commander 1LT Marvin S. Arthington, co-pilot 1LT Frederick M. Rader III, navigator MAJ Robert L. Baker, flight engineer TSGT William B. O’Kief, loadmaster A1C Allen J. Bodin, and combat photographer A1C Frederick R. Neef. Bodin was posthumously promoted to Sergeant. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org and aviation-safety.net]