THE WALL OF FACES

Your sacrifice is not forgotten.

HOOAH

Thank you for your service to our country so long ago sir. As long as you are remembered you will always be with us.

At approximately 10:00 PM on December 10, 1969, a U.S. Army helicopter UH-1H (tail number 66-16232) from Company C, 229th Aviation Battalion crashed on final approach to the Blue Max helicopter pad Tay Ninh Combat Base in Tay Ninh Province, RVN. One of the crewmen, gunner SP4 Robert R. Allmers, was killed in the incident. Four other personnel aboard were injured. The aircraft was arriving from Phuoc Vinh where it had picked up a passenger. The crew reportedly had logged about 16 hours flying time this day after providing C&C duties for an Engineer Battalion Commanding Officer. Both pilot and aircraft commander had landed at Tay Ninh many times before and seeing the lights of Tay Ninh not more than a mile away, began to relax as they made a long, shallow approach to the landing area. Operating under normal visual flight rules with the lights of Tay Ninh as their horizon, they were traveling at eighty knots with a descent of 300 feet per minute when the crew chief and aircraft commander suddenly saw a tree pass the left side of the ship. Knowing he was low, the aircraft commander started to pull pitch; but he was too late. Aircraft 232 hit the ground, plowing through four rice paddy dikes before coming to a rest on one of the farm roads in the area. The pilots were thrown from the wreckage still strapped in their seats. The crew chief and a passenger were also thrown free of the aircraft. Allmers was pinned inside the only part of the helicopter that had stayed intact, but a smoke grenade box tore loose from the bulkhead and hit him in the head, fatally injuring him. The crew chief remained conscious and helped free the pilot from his seat. Personnel from the base raced to scene and evacuated the wounded to the base medical hospital. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org and information provided by Fred Zacher (June 1999) at vhpa.org]

DEAR SPECIALIST 4TH CLASS ALLMERS,
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE AS A FLIGHT QUALIFIED AIRCRAFT MAINTENANCE APPRENTICE WITH THE 1ST CAVALRY. I HAD A FRIEND WHOSE BROTHER WAS 1ST CAV, I HOPE YOU GREETED HIM.
REST IN PEACE.

THE WAR MAY BE FORGOTTEN BUT THE WARRIOR WILL ALWAYS BE REMEMBERED!!!! REST IN PEACE ROBERT.