(Note: Records differs as to the aircraft type on this incident. Some
records show the aircraft type this crew was flying as UH1H, and some show it as a UH1C. Herbert Crosby flew Charlie models every day from at least July 1969 to January 1970. The serial number, #66-739 correlates to a C model, the first two numbers indicating that the aircraft had been made in 1966, and the H model only had come out a few months before this time. Although C models were gunships, and usually flew more or less independently, while this aircraft was flying in tight formation as flight lead, which would correlate with the H model, it has been confirmed that the ship on which this crew was flying was definitely a Charlie model.)

At 1300 hours, the three helicopters departed Tien Phuoc. Five to ten
minutes later, due to instrument flight rules, Capt. Crosby directed the
flight to change to a different flight heading. When the helicopters changed frequencies to contact Chu Lai ground control approach, radio contact was lost with Capt. Crosby and was not regained.

The other two aircraft reached Chu Lai heliport, and at 1400 hours, serach efforts were begun for the missing aircraft, although the crew was not found.

According to a 1974 National League of Families report, George Howes survived the crash of this helicopter. The report further maintains that the loss occurred in Laos, although the coordinates place it some 40-odd miles from that country.

A North Vietnamese prisoner released later reported that he had seen Howes in captivity the same month the helicopter went down. A second sighting by a villager in Phuoc Chouc (or Phouc Chau) village reported Howes and two other POWs stopped for water at his house in February, 1970, en route to Laos. Whether these reports also relate to Allen, Crosby and Graziosi, is unknown.

When the last American troops left Southeast Asia in 1975, some 2500
Americans were unaccounted for. Reports received by the U.S. Government since that time build a strong case for belief that hundreds of these "unaccounted for" Americans are still alive and in captivity.

"Unaccounted for" is a term that should apply to numbers, not men. We, as a nation, owe these men our best effort to find them and bring them home. Until the fates of the men like the UH1C crew are known, their families will wonder if they are dead or alive .. and why they were deserted.
 

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NEWS RELEASES from the United States Department of Defense
No. 1294-06 IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 19, 2006

Soldiers Missing In Action From Vietnam War are Identified

The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of three U.S. servicemen, missing in action from the Vietnam War, have been identified and returned to their families for burial with full military honors.

They are Capt. Herbert C. Crosby, of Donalsonville, Ga.; Sgt. 1st Class Wayne C. Allen, of Tewksbury, Mass.; and Sgt. 1st Class Francis G. Graziosi, of Rochester, N.Y.; all U.S. Army. Burial dates and locations are being set by their families.

Representatives from the Army met with the next-of-kin of these men to explain the recovery and identification process, and to coordinate interment with military honors on behalf of the Secretary of the Army.

On Jan. 10, 1970, these men were returning to their base at Chu Lai, South Vietnam aboard a UH-1C Huey helicopter. Due to bad weather, their helicopter went down over Quang Nam Province. A search was initiated for the crew, but no sign of the helicopter or crew was spotted.

In 1989, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (S.R.V.) gave to U.S. specialists 25 boxes containing the remains of the U.S. servicemen related to this incident. Later that year, additional remains and Crosby's identification tag were obtained from a Vietnamese refugee.

Between 1993 and 1999, joint U.S./S.R.V. teams, led by the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC), conducted three investigations in Ho Chi Minh City and two investigations in Quang Nam-Da Nang Province (formerly Quang Nam Province). A Vietnamese informant in Ho Chi Minh City told the team he knew where the remains of as many as nine American servicemen were buried. He agreed to lead the team to the burial site. In 1994, the team excavated the site and recovered a metal box and several bags containing human remains, including those of these three soldiers.

Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from JPAC and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory also used mitochondrial DNA and dental comparisons in the identification of the remains.

For additional information on the Defense Department's mission to account for missing Americans, visit the DPMO Web site at http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo/ or call (703) 699-1169.