LOST AND FOUND

 

Like Paul Harvey, most or us at one time or another would like to find out about "the rest of the story." As flight crews, we mostly saw our embarked Marines as they loaded, and when they disembarked, they were gone as far as we were concerned. Not that we wouldn’t have cared to have known what happened after that, but in most cases we just didn’t.

One time Marine Corporal, Eddie DeLezen, formerly of 3d Force Recon, finally took a step which would solve a mystery which had bugged him for almost thirty-one years . On February 08, 1999 he posted the following message on our bulletin board:

My 4 man recon crashed in a 46 SW of Khe Sanh on Aug3-68.  We were hit by enemy fire as we approached the insertion LZ. The number on the chopper was ET 154017 3. The pilot may have been a Major. We were picked up by another 46 that pulled us out of a stream. We have a couple photos of the crash. I hope to locate the crews and thank them, we never had a chance as we were led to debriefing as soon as we got back. Does anyone out there know these brave men?

Also we would like to know about the chopper, if it was recovered. I am sure it was Aug 3 because we got hurt pretty bad on Aug 10 in another area.

Our historian, Sam Small, read the message and after consulting his copy of the Command Chronology sent Eddie the following:

I believe that you came to the right place, but on the wrong date. Our Command Chronology for 6 Aug 1968 lists such an incident:

HMM-262 events 6-5 and 6-6, led by Captain Rich Herberg Jr., had been working the afternoon on 3d MarDiv recon team insertion and extraction missions. At 1615H, 6-6, flown by 1Lt M. R. Mullen, was in his landing approach to insert the last of the teams (four men) into YD 015355 when the crew chief, Cpl B. J. Hanchett, reported taking automatic weapons fire. Lt Mullen executed an immediate wave off at which time his number two engine was knocked out by enemy fire. Due to the load, Lt Mullen was unable to remain airborne and was forced to land in densely forested enemy territory. After stripping the aircraft of guns and destroying the radios, they radioed 6-5, using the recon team's radio, to meet them at a river approximately 100 meters west for a rescue attempt.

With the enemy in pursuit, the crew and the team were forced to leave the heavy weapons and radios behind or chance capture. Captain Herberg in 6-5 skillfully plucked the crew and team from mid-stream of the shallow but swift river while under enemy fire. Although 6-5 received several hits, a successful rescue was accomplished.

Even though 6-6 received Alpha damage, its crew and the recon team escaped with minor injuries. ET-3 (6-6) was destroyed by fixed-wing later in the afternoon.

The crew chief of the downed aircraft was black and the pilot of the rescue aircraft looked old for a captain, primarily because he had an ugly Ho Chi Min mustache and chewed tobacco all of the time. Alpha damage means destroyed.

If this is the crash that you are talking about, I can put you in touch with the pilots. I have not been able to locate Hanchett. He was shot down some time later and seriously wounded while fighting off the NVA who were attacking the crew on the ground.

Eddie was quick to reply:

Yes, this was the crash that my team was involved with. I remember the crewchief, a black Marine, he followed me down to the stream, as I had taken the point position. Along the way I found many fresh NVA footprints and at one time the crewchief commented as to how big they were. Sorry I got the dates wrong, also sorry they didn't get the chopper out. When we left the 50cals, the gunners took the trigger mechs off and told me that they were useless without them. We had enemy on all sides and took sporatic AK fire from snipers. They were trying to prevent out extract and with dark approaching, wanted some POWs. Yes, we would like to contact all of them, hope you can arrange it. We have a couple photos that they may want. Thanks,Eddie

The complete crew of ET-3 was 1Lt Mike Mullen, 1Lt Charles Martin,
Cpl Ben Hanchett, Cpl William Logan, and LCpl Gunter Krause.

Eddie is now in correspondence with the pilots of 6-5 and 6-6, and sent the photos that accompany this article. The photos have been restored,
having been damaged when the camera was dunked in the Dakrong river. According to Charlie Martin, Rich Herberg received the DFC for his
part in the rescue.

Sam Small