MYERS, DAVID GEPHART Name: David Gephart Myers Branch/Rank: United States Marine Corps/O2 Unit: VMFA 533 MAG 12 or VMO 2 MAG 16 1 MAR Date of Birth: 19 September 1943 Home City of Record: STATE COLLEGE PA Date of Loss: 08 June 1967 Country of Loss: South Vietnam Loss Coordinates: 164221 North 1063914 East Status (in 1973): Killed In Action/Body Not Recovered Category: 2 Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: UH1E TAIL # 154763 Missions: Other Personnel in Incident: Refno: Source: Compiled by P.O.W. NETWORK from one or more of the following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews and CACCF = Combined Action Combat Casualty File. Updated 2000. REMARKS: DIED NEAR HILL 881 NEXT TO KHE SAHN VIA GROUND FIRE ================= From - Wed Mar 22 10:57:09 2000 Subject: INCIDENT DATE 670608 VMO-3 UH-1E 154763+ small arms fire airborne May be additional info here that you can use. Alan H. Barbour, President USMC/Vietnam Helicopter Association ______________________________________________ INCIDENT DATE 670608 VMO-3 UH-1E 154763+ small arms fire airborne Myers, David Gephart 1stLT Pilot VMO-3 670608 MYERS DAVID GEPHART : 091291 : USMC : 1stLT : O2 : 7563 : 23 : STATE COLLEGE : PA : 19670608 : Hostile, small arms fire, airborne : Pilot : body NOT recovered : Quang Tri : 01 : 19430919 : Cauc : Protestant/married : 21E : 075 Comments on Incident: Killed by enemy ground fire while attacking position in huey gunship near Hill 881S north of Khe Sanh. Body left at scene of a/c impact due to hostilities. Other crewmembers survived and were evacuated. Myers confirmed dead at scene of crash by crew. Loss Coordinates: N16 42 21 E106 39 14 Comments on Incident: I was the Copilot in the lead ship of a two ship flight. We were operating out of Khe Sanh and this was my first deployment of many to the combat base. Dave was flying with Capt. Boyd Barkley. Bo was a member of the VMO-3 second group [arriving in-country] along with me. We were the FNGs at that time. As I recall, we were on a TAOR [Tactical Area of Responsibility] sweep and were operating around Hill 881S [South]. We received a request from the ground to assist the grunts with a recon of the Hill 881N area. They felt that Charlie [North Vietnamese Army] was possibly waiting in ambush for them as they were walking between 881N and 881S. They requested a recon by fire on the trail to their front and marked the suspected position with WP (white phosphorus smoke grenade]. We rolled in on the position and shot it up with our machineguns. We did not see any movement. We pulled off and Dave and Bo rolled in to shoot up the area. I will never forget the next thing I heard on the radio. I heard Dave say that they were hit and that he was dead. We immediately made a 180 degree turn and I saw Dave's aircraft smoking and in obvious distress. I told my pilot that I thought Dave was going down. We followed them down and saw them crash on a steep slope. The aircraft rolled down the slope and came to rest inverted. We immediately notified the controllers and laid down suppressive fire. It seemed like hours before we got rescue on station along with some fixed wing support, but it was actually only minutes. The rescue was done by an unidentified H-34, squadron; thank you guys whoever you were. We stayed on station and coordinated the rescue effort until all survivors were out. It was my introduction to Khe Sanh. I'm sorry that Dave stayed. We were unable to get him out. Submitted by Robert C. Houston, Wingman(Copilot). SAEPE EXPERTUS, SEMPER FIDELIS, FRATRES AETERNI "Often Tested, Always Faithful, Brothers Forever"