THE WALL OF FACES

I served under "Top" Storm from April of '69 till his death in December that year. He was a fine man and a great Marine. He held the unit together with professionalism and leadership. His loss was a grievous one to all of us.

Dear MGysgt, Thank you for your service as a Cryptologic/Electronic Warfare Chief. Saying thank you isn't enough, but it is from the heart. Memorial Day is soon, and we honor you. Please watch over America, it stills needs your strength, courage, guidance and faithfulness, especially now. Rest in peace with the angels.

My memories of MGySgt Ed Storm remain firm in my mind, despite the passage of more than half a century. Serving as a junior NCO (Sgt) under his guidance had a lasting impression on me as a service member and a commander of men. His loss was a great one to us and to the nation. I have kept in touch with several of the NCO's with whom I served in Phu Bai and we all admired and respected him and we all felt our year in Vietnam was the best year in our lives and one we would live over, if we could. Thank you for your leadership. See you in Valhallah.
Dan M. Davis, CDR, USN, Ret.

On December 28, 1969, a U.S. Marine Corps helicopter CH-46A (tail number 153379) from Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 364 (HMM-364) was returning from Phu Bai and had filed an IFR flight plan. They were experiencing radio problems and were cleared at 5,000 feet mean sea level (MSL), but read back and flew the flight at 3,000 feet MSL. Da Nang Approach Control made numerous attempts to alert the crew to their mistake and transmitted on all UHF frequencies at their disposal, including Guard, with transmissions such as, "Turn left, you have a mountain at your 12 o'clock, distance 2 miles!" The crew never responded and flew into Hai-Van Pass under instrument meteorological conditions (IMC) and impacted the terrain. All aboard were killed instantly. The crew members included aircraft commander 1LT Charles K. Butler, co-pilot 1LT William P. Higgins, crew chief SSGT Robert R. Swain, and gunner PFC William L. Beadnell. The passengers were PFC James M. Alderman, CTC Robert S. Gates, LCPL James H. Pence, LCPL Leslie L. Shelton, MGYS Edward R. Storm, and SSGT Richard D. Walsh. (Information provided by Walt Wise, 1LT USMCR; Terry D. McDade, SGT USMC; William N. "Pappy" Hill, MGYS USMC Ret.) [Taken from vhpa.org]

Scoutmaster Storm, we so need men like you today. I miss you dearly.