| Date: 12 May 1968 |
| Aircraft type: C-130B Hercules |
| Serial Number: 60-0297 |
| Military Unit: 773 TAS, 463 TAW |
| Service: USAF |
| Home Base: Clark AB, Philippines |
| Name(s): |
| Maj Bernard Ludwig Bucher (KIA) |
| 1Lt Stephan Craig Moreland (KIA) |
| Maj John Lee McElroy (KIA) |
| SSgt Frank Monroe Hepler (KIA) |
| A1C George Wendell Long (KIA) |
| Capt Warren Robert Orr (5th Special Forces Group, US Army) (KIA) |
| unknown number of South Vietnamese civilians names unknown (KIA) |
| Maj Bucher’s C-130 (call sign Terry 60) was one of the last aircraft to fly out of Kham Duc. The aircraft took off with an unknown number of passengers, many of them Vietnamese irregular troops and their dependants but also at least one US Army Special Forces officer. The aircraft took several hits as it took off and a few minutes later a FAC pilot who was airborne in the vicinity reported that the Hercules had exploded in mid-air and crashed into a ravine about one mile from the camp. Although it was not possible to reach the wreckage, the aircraft was seen to have completely burned out and there was no chance of any survivors. It has been estimated that possibly as many as 150 Vietnamese were crammed on board the aircraft and died in the crash. Whatever the precise number of casualties, this incident was undoubtedly the worst air disaster of the war until the loss of a C-5A near Saigon on 4 April 1975. Maj Bucher’s aircraft was temporarily based at Tan Son Nhut.
In 1993 a joint US/Vietnamese team visited the crash site of the C-130 and were able to recover human remains. During the visit several local villagers handed over ID tags that had been found by villagers during the 1980s when scavenging for scrap metal. Another excavation in 1994 recovered more remains and personal effects. In 2007 mitochondrial DNA testing and dental analysis indentified the remains of Capt Orr and A1C Long. In the following year the remains of the rest of the crew were also identified and a group burial was made in Arlington National Cemetery in December 2008. |
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