Hill, John Richard
Army Captain

John Richard Hill, age 29, from Waynesburg, Pennsylvania, Greene county.

Parents: Doris Hill
Spouse: Doris Hill
Children: Mitchell, Tonia

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: Monday, April 27, 1970
Death details: On April 27, 1970, a UH-1H Iroquois (tail number: 66-17626; call sign “Dustoff 712”) carrying four crew members was returning to its air base in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, following a medical evacuation mission, when it crashed into the sea (vicinity of 49Q AU 972 003). The four crew members escaped helicopter when it hit the water, but one crew member was lost below the water surface and was not seen again. The remaining three crew members swam toward flares on the beach but became separated. A Korean landing ship tank rescued the copilot in the mouth of Da Nang Bay. On May 3, 1970, search teams located and identified the bodies of the crew chief and the medic. The pilot was not located or recovered from the water. Captain John Richard Hill, who joined the U.S. Army from Pennsylvania, was a member of the 237th Medical Detachment, 67th Medical Group. He was the pilot of the Iroquois when it went down. His remains were not recovered in search efforts conducted following the incident, and he is still unaccounted for. Today, Captain Hill is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Columbus Ledger Enquirer (1970)