THE WALL OF FACES

I am the Curator of the POW/MIA Bracelet Display in the Vietnam Hangar of the Palm Springs Air Museum in Palm Springs, California where we now have over two thousand bracelets and would be honored to include your bracelet in our Display should you have one. If you no longer have your bracelet or are an immediate family member (spouse, fiancé, sibling, child, grandchild, cousin, niece, nephew, or close friend) I can order one for the Display in your name with funds donated by our Museum visitors.
https://palmspringsairmuseum.org/vietnam-pow-bracelet-display/
Dr. Dave Thompson
Palm Springs Air Museum
POW/MIA Bracelet Display Curator
Lt. Commander U.S. Navy 1964-1970
10-103 Lakeview Dr. Rancho Mirage, Ca 92270
760-328-0859 760-464-6843 [email protected]

On April 24, 1969, a U.S. Army UH-1C helicopter gunship (#65-09428), call sign Griffin, from C Battery, 4th Battalion (Aerial Artillery), 77th Artillery (Airmobile), was on alert at Camp Evans northwest of Hue in Thua Thien Province, RVN, when it and another gunship were scrambled for a fire mission near the A Shau Valley. While enroute to their objective, aircraft 428 was forced to negotiate a hazardous route at low altitude due to haze and clouds. The helicopter received hostile ground fire and lost power, crashing into the jungle five miles northwest of the hamlet of A Luoi. Pilot WO1 James A. Brown II was critically injured in the tangle of the wreckage, his injured crew chief unable to free him. The crew chief was able to extricate the unconscious aircraft commander and provided medical assistance and comfort to both pilots. He then crawled through the foliage to a clearing where he signaled rescue aircraft overhead, placing the freed aircraft commander on a rescue hoist. The crew chief again attempted to remove Brown, but was unsuccessful, and after urging from the medical evacuation team, put himself in the hoist and was lifted out. He was later awarded the Silver Star medal for valor. Brown’s remains were subsequently recovered. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org, vhpa.org, and “ARMY 1969 4TH BN-77 AERIAL ROCKET ARTILLERY - Annual Historical Supplement for C Battery 4th Battalion (Aerial Artillery) 77th Artillery (Airmobile)” at ttu.edu; also, information provided by Chester J. Uszynski (March 2022) and the crew chief’s Silver Star citation]

Thank you for your service to our country so long ago sir. The remembrance from Bill Hartbarger is especially poignant. As long as you are remembered you will always be with us....

I visited the travelling Viet Nam Memorial today in Sanford, FL. I did a rubbing of your name and left an American. You are remembered as a good friend and a contagious sense of humor. RIP and GOD BLESS!
Elaine Berol Taylor

Thank you for your service and your sacrifice. Thank you for stepping up and answering your country's call. Rest easy knowing you will never be forgotten.