HONORED ON PANEL 10W, LINE 95 OF THE WALL
CLAUDE HARMON CARGILE
WALL NAME
CLAUDE H CARGILE
PANEL / LINE
10W/95
DATE OF BIRTH
CASUALTY PROVINCE
DATE OF CASUALTY
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REMEMBRANCES
LEFT FOR CLAUDE HARMON CARGILE
POSTED ON 3.7.2025
POSTED BY: Keith Lichtman
Thank you
My father speaks so highly of you, having grown up with you in Greensboro, AL. Thank you for your service and sacrifice.
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POSTED ON 1.15.2024
POSTED BY: Lucy Micik
Burial information
1Lt Claude Cargile is buried at Oakwood Cemetery in Greensboro, Alabama.
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POSTED ON 5.16.2023
POSTED BY: David Steven Cockrill
Find memories of Vietnam
Tuesday, 16 May 2023. Captain Cargile, I have been thinking about you guys before the anniversary of our helicopter crash on 13 May 1970. I was thinking of the times we shared flying around I Corps from LZ to LZ in the heat and humidity and how thirsty we became every day. Even a hot beer quenched our thirst. That time I came back carrying cases of sodas, beer, and even sheet cake brought smiles to the crew's faces and laughs of amazement we got so lucky due to the Black soldier's generosity because he hadn't heard English spoken for 6 months.
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POSTED ON 2.7.2022
POSTED BY: David Cockrill
Lt. Cargile
I cannot remember him. I knew Mister White very well and considered him a close friend. White hung out with the enlisted crew but the other pilots didn't
Day in and day out. We flew really long hours, 7 days a week. I loved flying but I was tired from so much of it. One day we flew 10 hours not counting down time. And I began paying attention to burnt out helicopter crash sites as we took off on many sorties every day. One day we had a hydraulic pump failure. It sound like the transmission was tearing apart. We did a running landing on PSP air strip. Sparks were flying and I was praying the skids didn't snag a bad spot. The skids were ruined. I guess I was getting paranoid after being shot at during a landing at a hamlet that I thought was captured already. Anyway, I refused to fly when Sgt
Henderson told me to fly another Huey. A crew chief is never switched from aircraft to another one. I pulled long and accurate daily maintenance often in the dark when all the other crew chiefs took off for our hootches. I did it by the book as I was taught at Fort Rucker. I was proud of my Huey. After the crash. Henderson accused me of sabotage. That hurt me. The thought never entered my mind. I was exonerated and went back to flying. I did odd things trying to get an edge on the enemy like making the first rounds all tracers so I might pinpoint the VC. I guess some guys thought I was gung-ho but I was just trying to survive. I think of Cargile White Martinez a lot. They were young men.
Day in and day out. We flew really long hours, 7 days a week. I loved flying but I was tired from so much of it. One day we flew 10 hours not counting down time. And I began paying attention to burnt out helicopter crash sites as we took off on many sorties every day. One day we had a hydraulic pump failure. It sound like the transmission was tearing apart. We did a running landing on PSP air strip. Sparks were flying and I was praying the skids didn't snag a bad spot. The skids were ruined. I guess I was getting paranoid after being shot at during a landing at a hamlet that I thought was captured already. Anyway, I refused to fly when Sgt
Henderson told me to fly another Huey. A crew chief is never switched from aircraft to another one. I pulled long and accurate daily maintenance often in the dark when all the other crew chiefs took off for our hootches. I did it by the book as I was taught at Fort Rucker. I was proud of my Huey. After the crash. Henderson accused me of sabotage. That hurt me. The thought never entered my mind. I was exonerated and went back to flying. I did odd things trying to get an edge on the enemy like making the first rounds all tracers so I might pinpoint the VC. I guess some guys thought I was gung-ho but I was just trying to survive. I think of Cargile White Martinez a lot. They were young men.
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