Turner, James Henry
Army Specialist 5

James Henry Turner, age 21, from Columbus, Ohio, Franklin county.

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: Thursday, October 9, 1969
Death details: On October 9, 1969, a UH-1D Iroquois (tail number 63-8826) with nine men aboard was taking off after a troop extraction when its rotor blades struck some trees along the Dong Na River bank. In an attempt to regain altitude and airspeed, the pilot headed over the river, but the helicopter soon struck the water and sank within seconds. Other aircraft in the area surveyed the crash site and observed personnel and debris in the water, but they were soon swept under by the swift current. Only two men were able to survive the crash and swim to shore to be rescued. The remains of two other individuals who were aboard the helicopter were eventually recovered and identified, but the remaining five men are still unaccounted for. Specialist 4 James Henry Turner entered the U.S. Army from Ohio and served in the 118th Aviation Company, 145th Aviation Battalion, 12th Aviation Group, 1st Aviation Brigade. He was the door gunner aboard this helicopter at the time of its crash and could not be located following the incident. Attempts to recover his remains were unsuccessful. The Army promoted Specialist 4 Turner to Specialist 5 after the incident. Today, Specialist 5 Turner is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency