HMM-364 Command Chronology - February 1969:
7 February 1969 - Four fire incidents were reported with YK-14 being shot down with 6 KIAs and 1 WIA.

HMM-364 Command Chronology - February 1969:
Casualties for the Month of Feb 1969 - Bartolina, EE Capt KIA
Moke, RE 1stLt KIA
Miller, CW Cpl KIA
Shank, RG LCpl KIA
Tomaro, GJ Cpl WIA

Comment on Incident:
MEDEVAC Shot Down in Arizona Territory, near Hue City. Aircraft launched from MMAF on a low overcast day with intermittent rain. The wounded Marines were near the village of An Hoa (AT820561). The pilot was forced to make a low approach to the LZ and was subjected to intense enemy fire. The aircraft went out of control and crashed very hard in a rice paddy with about 10" of water in it. One of the crew, Gregory J. Tomaro, gunner, survived the crash. Subsequent examination of the wreckage revealed that both hydraulic boost systems had failed due to enemy fire. Doc Walt Tyrrell was training Doc Gary Young in helicopter medevac ops. Information by Courtney Payne, Major USMCR(Ret); Owen Crew. Baker, Col. USMCR(Ret)

HN Gary Norman Young, Corpsman:

OBITUARY

Submitted by MGySgt George Curtis, Popasmoke Admin

Personal Recollection:
HM2 Rip Tyrell was a good friend of mine. I was a DT2 and the senior petty officer (NCOIC) at the MAG-16 dental clinic. Unlike other dental techs, I was especially close with the corpsmen because I volunteered to be part of MAG-16's MEDCAP team.

The dentist, who was too chicken to leave the base, taught me how to pull teeth. I didn't think of it at the time but I believe I garnered a lot of respect from the HMs just for going with them.

Tyrell and I were involved in a lot of "adventures." The biggest was straight out of MASH. A small group of E-5 corpsmen and I were getting smashed one night in the Sgt's club. One of our mates had been injured in a crash that day and was in the field hospital.

We all agreed when Tyrell said "we gotta go see him".

Long story short:
Around 2100 we loaded into a jeep ambulance, with me on a stretcher, and brazened our way through the sentries at the gate. We saw our friend, who was in better condition than we could have hoped, and somehow made it back through the gate around 0030 without a challenge!

I ended up going to the Club after learning of Rip's death and got completely wasted. The next morning I awoke with the mother of all headaches. The last thing I wanted to do was go out on a morning MEDCAP. However, I sucked it up, drank two or three cans of tomato juice, and went out to a nearby ville.

Everything started coming up when I climbed off the 4X4 and I was bent over in the square puking total red (the juice).

Concerned children gather around me and kept asking "bác sĩ? (doctor), bác sĩ?" The puke was bright red from the juice and they thought I was bleeding to death before their eyes.

Forty years later, Rip Tyrell remains the finest man I ever met. Thank you for letting me share my thoughts.
Submitted by Bill Timmons, Close friend of HM2 Rip Tyrell

Capt Ernest E. Bartolina Jr., HMM-364:

http://www.hmm-364.org/bartolina2.html


Submitted by MGySgt George Curtis, Popasmoke Admin

HN Gary Norman Young, Corpsman:


Submitted by MGySgt George Curtis, Popasmoke Admin

1stLt Russell Eugene Moke, HMM-364:

http://www.hmm-364.org/moke-re.jpg
Submitted by MGySgt George Curtis, Popasmoke Admin

HM2 Walter Ripley Tyrrell, Corpsman:

http://www.virtualwall.org/dt/TyrrellWR01a.htm
Submitted by MGySgt George Curtis, pop

Capt Ernest E. Bartolina Jr., HMM-364:

Capt. Ernest E. Batolina, Jr. outside the squadron area in Bhu Bai.

Photo provided by Jan Bartolina, Ernie's sister

http://www.hmm-364.org/album69z09.html

Submitted by MGySgt George Curtis, Popasmoke Admin

Personal Recollection:
Russ was a fine man; full of love for the Corps and full of life when I knew him before we shipped over ... He was only in country for a month or so when this happened ... he left a loving wife Diane and a newborn ... I still miss him 40 years later.
Submitted by Jim Martindale, Russ Moke Roomate in Pensacola