THE WALL OF FACES

First Lieutenant William Terry Allen, Served with Company A, 4th Aviation Battalion, 4th Infantry Division.

Dear 1LT William Terry Allen, 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

Automatic weapons fire brought down U.S. Army helicopter UH-1H tail number 66-16587 on December 4, 1967 during an Operation Snoopy people sniffer mission south of Dak To. Four crewmen were killed, including 1LT William T. Allen, SP5 Wolfgang T.O. Mohl, SP4 Clyde M. Lee, and SP4 Thomas P. Ciecura. There was one survivor, WO1 Charles R. Livermont. Personal account of this incident by the survivor: I had been in-country about five months flying for A4th Aviation Battalion. I liked flying these ‘sniffer’ missions and flew them whenever I could. 1LT William T. Allen was an AC and prior to the mission had told me that today I was flying as the PIC. For this mission I had left the briefing a little earlier than he to make certain the aircraft was ready. When he joined us at the aircraft, he said that he had volunteered to fly the mission today under my command and the two enlisted men also said they volunteered for this mission. We had flown this type of mission in this area before and, if I remember the briefing correctly, we were told we were trying to pin-point about three NVA battalions. I do not recall being shot down or the rescue or the first few weeks in the hospitals. Later I talked with Al McGowan (his real name was James). He died in 1993, but he had served on the investigation team for my aircraft. He gave me some photos of the aircraft after I had been taken out. Normally, the ‘sniffer’ Huey was covered by two gunships. I would love to talk with anyone of those crews. As I understand it, I was unconscious for a long time (maybe two days) before an Engineer team was able to rescue me and recover the bodies of my crew members. I spent about nine months in military hospitals and was then retired. (Submitted by Ray Livermont in June 2001) [Taken from vhpa.org]

I thank him for all of his sacrafices and courages acts.

Thank you so much for your bravery. You made the worls a much better