THE WALL OF FACES

You were very brave that night to volunteer to fly the flare ship mission. We never knew why the pilot decided to fly in bad IFR conditions with that particular helo. We had many successful combat flights together. I missed you my friend. I always thought that you were my guardian angel after that night.

I came in-country and was assigned to A Company in April. I met Barry some time after and found him to be great guy personally and a good soldier. He had been Infantry before transferring to Aviation and was experienced in both. It was such a sad day when we learned of his loss and the other men on his Huey.

There is a move to organize funds for a memorial at Ft Campbell for all the "Fallen" Aviation soldiers and Barry should be honored there as well.

Dear SP4 Barry Lee Brown, 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

At approximately 2040 hours on the 17th of October 1971, A Company, 101st Aviation Battalion was alerted for a flare mission. At that time their standby crew was scrambled. The crew consisted of 1LT Robert M. Webb Jr., WO1 Jack E. Searing, SGT Alvis T. Barrington Jr., SP4 Barry L. Brown, and SP5 Wallace J. Depreo, plus two other passengers, names unknown. After lift-off from Camp Eagle, the flareship proceeded to Fire Support Base (FSB) Birmingham under GCA radar control. At FSB Birmingham the flareship, working in conjunction with the Nighthawk aircraft (68-16341), orbited for about 15 to 20 minutes. Because of a delay in the planned artillery support plus the fact that Nighthawk was getting low on fuel, both aircraft returned to Camp Eagle. At approximately 2130 hours, after both aircraft refueled, they returned to orbit over FSB Birmingham. The aircraft continued to orbit in this manner for about 15 minutes. After the artillery ceased firing, Nighthawk continued with his reconnaissance mission. Shortly thereafter, in beginning his flare drop mission, the aircraft commander lost control of his flareship, probably due to a sudden heavy rain shower that cut visibility to almost zero. Subsequently, the flareship crashed. There were no survivors. At that time, approximately 2204, the Nighthawk aircraft returned to Camp Eagle. [Taken from vhpa.org]

Photo of Barry