VIETNAM & LAOS
JAN. 1966 - AUG. 1966
VIETNAM & LAOS
JAN. 1966 - AUG. 1966
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January 1966 Saigon W. R. Pruner Chang Yong-Ho Nguyen Ban Thai |
An Air America C47 cargo plane crash-landed after it was hit by Viet Cong ground fire and its
pilot and copilot were shot to death in the plane's cabin, a spokesman for the airline said Saturday.
John Mc Mann, manager of the private air line's office here, said the plane was hit Friday about 80 miles southwest of Saigon. He said the pilot was W. R. Pruner, whose widow, Betty, lives in Oklahoma City OK. The copilot was Chang Yong-Ho, a Vietnamese, the fate of a third crewman, Nguyen Ban Thai, also a Vietnamese, was not known, McMann said. Crash Survived He said the investigation had shown that Pruner and Chang were not seriously injured in the crash land. "They were shot to death inside the cabin of the plane. " McMann said. "The natural assumption is that they were shot by men of the same Viet Cong unit that had disabled their plane. Thai "possibly escaped," McMann said. "Of course, there is also the possibility that he was captured by the men who attacked the plane. The plane had left Saigon early Friday for Vi Thanh, capital of Chuong Thien province in the lower reaches of the Mekong delta. It carried a cargo of rice, cooking oils and other foodstuffs, McMann said. Air America is under contract to the U.S. government. "We were taking the rice and the other foodstuffs to Vi Thanh to be used during the Tet, the Vietnamese new year," McMann said. "The cargo was a part of U.S. aid program. We were taking it down for the U.S. aid mission here." U.S. military authorities declined to comment on the incident. (Oregonian, Portland OR, 15 Jan 1966)
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February 1966 near Bien Hoa Bryon Boyd Foster |
Snipers Kill Portlander Saigon - Viet Cong guerrillas have killed Bryon Boyd Foster of Portland OR, a Civilian construction worker, near Bien Hoa air base, 18 miles from here, an American spokesman said Friday. He had been on the job for only two days. The spokesman said Foster and another worker were clearing jungle growth in a chain stretched between two tractors Thursday when the guerrillas opened fire. The leaped from their machines and raced for the base camp of their operations, but Foster was hit and killed. The other man escaped injury. A security platoon from the 1st Inf. Div. swept the area and recovered Foster's body. Foster, 31, was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Boyd Foster of 16349 E. Burnside St. He was employee of Morrison-Knudsen, Idaho-based construction firm. Foster, had lived in Portland since 1942, and was graduated from Parkrose High School after attending Grisham High. He left Portland 3 Feb (1966). His body will be returned for burial in Grisham (The Oregonian, Portland OR, 12 Feb 1966) |
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May 21 1966 Vietnam Look Magazine
Sam Castan |
Killed May 21 by mortar fire while traveling with the First Cavalry in the central highlands of Vietnam. A senior editor, he received a 1964 Sigma Delta Chi award for the best magazine reporting from Vietnam. Colleague Pete Hamill called Castan "the kind of reporter who could never cover a war sitting in the briefing rooms of Saigon, clerking the gilded lies of the propaganda machine." In 1965, Castan wrote: "I have no wish to glorify an unspeakable business and I won't end this report on a light note or with a war joke. There isn't anything funny about Vietnam." President Johnson noted that Castan "told the story -- from Cyprus, from Santo Domingo, and lastly, from Vietnam. He told the world of the hurt and the hope of mortal struggle." He was 31.
*Journalists who died covering the news in Vietnam*
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Aug 23, 1966 Saigon Vietnam SS BATON ROUGE
Raymond Barrett
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Limpet mine placed on hull by swimmer and detonated from riverbank near Saigon killed engine room crew. Left 12 by 45 foot hole On August 23, 1966, the ship was proceeding along the Long Tao river, about 22 miles southeast of what was then Saigon, when a limpet mine, placed on the 8,500 ton freighter's hull, ripped through its belly. The explosive had been positioned by a swimmer and then detonated electronically by someone crouching on the riverbank. Of the seven who died, Raymond Barrett, Earl Erickson, James McBride, Timothy Riordan and Robert Rowe were members of the Marine Firemen's Union, while Charles Rummel and John Bishop were officers and members of Marine Engineers' union. The explosion was blamed on the Viet Cong. They had begun attacking ships with small arms fire in February of that year, and two other freighters had been slightly damaged mines in May. The Baton Rouge Victory was the first American vessel sunk in the Saigon ship channel. |
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