| Date: 6 April 1972 |
| Aircraft type: HH-53C Super Jolly Green Giant |
| Serial Number: 68-10365 |
| Military Unit: 37 ARRS |
| Service: USAF |
| Home Base: Da Nang |
| Name(s): |
| Capt Peter Hayden Chapman (KIA) |
| 1Lt John Henry Call (KIA) |
| TSgt Roy Drewitt Prater (KIA) |
| TSgt Allen Jones Avery (KIA) |
| Sgt William Roy Pearson (KIA) |
| Sgt James Harold Alley (KIA) |
| On the 6th another attempt to rescue Lt Col Hambleton from Bat 21 and 1Lt Clark from Nail 38, who had been shot down on the 2nd and 3rd respectively was made by a SAR task force under the direction of Sandy lead, Capt Fred Boli. The attempt ended in disaster when a HH-53C (call sign Jolly Green 67) commanded by Capt Peter Chapman of the 37th ARRS was shot down by ground fire as it approached Hambleton’s position from the southwest. The helicopter crashed about half a mile south of 1Lt Clark’s hiding place and three miles to the east of Cam Lo village. The crew included Sgt James Alley, a photographer from the 601st Photo Flight, who went along to document the rescue. After the war the crash site of the HH-53 was visited by US and Vietnamese investigation teams on three separate occasions in 1989, 1992 and 1994. Some human remains were eventually recovered in 1994 and returned to the USA. Three of the crew were identified individually using mitochondrial DNA testing and the remains were finally laid to rest in a group burial in Arlington National Cemetery on 19 November 1997. The burial ceremony included a flyover by two MH-53J Pave Low III helicopters, the successors of the Vietnam-era Jolly Green Giants. By 2010 improvements in DNA testing procedures resulted in the positive identification of four of the crew of Jolly Green 67. |
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