Comment on Incident:
The two UH-34's that were lost on this date were on a SAR mission for two downed pilots in a VNAF T-28 (one Vietnamese & one US Air Force). According to contemporary news accounts, the nine Marines and three Navy medical personnel killed represented the biggest loss of American lives from a single incident up to that time in the war. Cpl. Charles Tuthill was the NCOIC of the SHUFLY photo lab at the time of his death.
Submitted by Dave Hugel, worked in the SHUFLY Photo Lab

Official Narrative:
Conclusion of Investigative Report by Maj. Robert V. Reese, HMM-361: "The place of the accident [site of the wreckage] was identified as 240 degrees, 43 miles from Danang, RVN."

"The subject men were killed when their helicopters crashed while on a combat rescue mission in South Vietnam. The actual cause of the crashes could not be determined; it is presumed that the men died as a result of injuries sustained in the crashes. Their deaths are not attributable to the intent, fault, negligence or inefficiency of any person in the naval service."

"About 081930H October 1963, the pilot of the L-19 [Army] lost visual and radio contact with the two helicopters and returned to base. Prior to both aircraft being declared overdue or assumed missing, search operations were initiated. Due to deteriorating weather conditions, the search was discontinued until first light of the next day, 9 October 1963."

"Rescue operations - at first light 9 October 1963, two squadron helicopters accompanied by an O-1B weather reconnaissance aircraft were launched on a search for the missing helicopters. The search aircraft sighted the wreckage ... The first troop carrying helicopter made an approach to the landing zone and was fired at by an enemy automatic weapon, hit, wounding the copilot and killing an RVN trooper in the passenger compartment."

"During one troop lift, the wreckage of the second Marine helicopter ... was found within approximately 500-600 yards from the first crash site in dense jungle growth with no apparent survivors ... Enemy small arms fire continued intermittently throughout the period. At the completion of operations, three Marine pilots had been wounded."

On 10 October 6 bodies from one aircraft and the body of the pilot of the second a/c were recovered. The next day three additional bodies were recovered from the other aircraft. The remains of LCpl Ritchey and HM3 Denton were not recovered (thorough search within a 250 yard radius). "Due to the condition of the wreckage, conclusive evidence existed beyond a reasonable doubt that both were dead and that they had died in the same accident at the same time as the other crew members."

The Virtual Wall:
a. CASUALTY LIST for UH-34D 148759
Name, Rank, IDNo, Service, Date of Death, CasCodes, Prov
DAVIDSON, Donald F. LCpl 1928576 M 10/08/1963 A1-B-5 03
RICE, Claude HN 5472522 N 10/08/1963 A1-B-5 03
RICHARDSON, Arthur G. 1stLt 084399 M 10/08/1963 A1-B-5 03
SKOVIAK, Ronald F. Cpl 1863559 M 10/08/1963 A1-B-5 03
TUTHILL, Charles P. Cpl 1883723 M 10/08/1963 A1-B-6 03
WHITEHEAD, Charles F. WO 051318 M 10/08/1963 A1-B-4 03

b. CASUALTY LIST for UH-34D 148781
Name, Rank, IDNo, Service, Date of Death, CasCodes, Prov
DENTON, Manuel R. HM3 5287032 N 10/08/1963 A1-B-5 03
FARRELL, Bruce C. LT 663304 N 10/08/1963 A1-B-5 03
HARRIS, William T. Capt 065229 M 10/08/1963 A1-B-4 03
JAMESON, Larry D. Sgt 1299735 M 10/08/1963 A1-B-5 03
LESSIG, Daniel K. 1stLt 080903 M 10/08/1963 A1-B-5 03
RITCHEY, Luther E. LCpl 1928239 M 10/08/1963 A1-B-5 03
Submitted by Ken Davis, Researcher, The Virtual Wall

Comment on Incident:
See Photos at 361 Crash Site, 1963
http://www.popasmoke.com/visions/index.php?page=search&search=631008

Personal Narrative:

An article written by David Kranz of the "Argus Leader" of Sioux Falls SD, it is reported that a Vietnam veteran named Doug Haugstad while on a humanitarian mission in Vietnam was handed a package by a middle aged woman that contained two brittle teeth, and a military dog tag with the name: Ritchey, Luther E. Jr. This woman told him these items came from a helicopter that had crashed during the war. This happened near the village of Tuy Hoa, about 100 miles south of DaNang. The woman told him, "Here, take them back.”

These items were eventually sent to the Central Identification Laboratory in Hawaii and they said that tests showed they were almost certainly the remains of Ritchey. This should bring some closure to the family and squadron members who knew LCpl Ritchey. The newspaper item included a picture of Ritchey and a UH34D...
Submitted by Roger Lawson, HMM-163

DoD announcement 04 Aug 2008:
HM3 DENTON, has been identified and was buried at Arlington:
"As a result of the remains turned over in 2000 and 2001, and of those
recovered from the crash site in 2002, Ritchey´s remains were identified
in 2003. Some of these remains could not be individually identified, and they are included in a group representing the entire crew. Denton´s
remains are in this group, which will be buried together in Arlington."

Submitted by Ken Davis, Researcher, The Virtual Wall

Casualty Recovery Information:
I am an Active Duty HMC who assisted in finding the remains of HM3 Denton and LCPL Richie outside of Da Nang in 2002...I was on the '69th and '70th JFA with JTF-FA. I am now attached to 1st MAW (Futenma) on Okinawa and will be dedicating a POW/MIA wall in our clinic on Futenma with a plaque we found with HM3 Dentons name as well as the Medical officer and HN's name who also died in the same helo crash...Please feel free to email me any time



Submitted by HMC Mark Cane (SW/FMF), Recovery team (2002)

Personal Narrative:
On May 14th, 2008, after waiting for word for nearly 45 years, the family of Manuel Denton was informed that enough circumstantial and forensic evidence had been gathered to identify his remains and a funeral was planned for Arlington.

On August 5th, the DoD formally announced identification of Corpsman Denton's remains.

On August 7th, a full military funeral was held attended by many of his family, a large contingent from the Pentagon and Bethesda Naval Hospital and more than 100 others. Escorting the procession and standing as honorary honor guard was a local Vietnam Veteran Motorcycle Chapter.

Corpsman Manuael Denton, USN was buried along with Lt. Bruce Farrell, USN (the Squadron Flight Surgeon) and two Marine crewmen, Luther Ritchey and Daniel Klessig.

God Bless them all.................Semper Fi,
Submitted by Bruce Williams-Burden, A Fellow MEDEVAC Corpsman

HM3 Manuel Reyes Denton, Corpsman:

http://www.corpsman.com/powdocs.html

Submitted by MGySgt George Curtis, Popasmoke Admin

LCpl Luther Edmond Ritchey Jr., HMM-361:

http://www.privatehenrykalinowski.org/html/luther_ritchey_jr_.html

Family Information:


Sgt. Larry Duane Jameson-KIA in Vietnam on 10/8/1963. On 10/8/1963, a USAF pilot had been shot down (Captain Dean Wadsworth) about 40 miles south of Danang, South Vietnam. Two Marine helicopters of the 1st Marine Air Wing (HMM-361) were immediately dispatached from the Danang airfield to effect a search-and-rescue mission. Due to the urgency, we have never been able to sort out who was with each helicopter - but we know that there were a total of 9 Marines and 3 Navy Corpsmen onboard. They had arrived at the position of the downed pilot, and one of the helicopters started taking ground fire as it started to descend. These hits caused it to go into a tail spin, and it rotated into the second helicopter - causing both to crash/burn, killing all 12 men. The carnage was so bad that two of the remains (1 Marine, 1 Corpsman) were never found/identified, and subsequent searches for the pilot were unfruitfull - he also is listed as one of our MIA's. This incident became the largest number of US servicemen killed in the war up to that date on a single day. What's interesting is that Larry Jameson was trained as a Avionics Technican - and as the war escalated, he would never have been onboard for this type of mission - but he, along with 3 other technicians had gone along on that fateful day......a true Marine.
Submitted by Michael Farr, Cousin of Larry Jameson

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