Kanuha, Damon V.
Air Force Staff sergeant
Damon V. Kanuha, age 28, from San Diego, California, San Diego county.
Service era: Gulf War
Date of death: Thursday, January 31, 1991
Death details: During the Battle of Khafji, the AC-130 he was aboard was hit by a shoulder-fired missile as the plane attacked rocket launchers threatening U.S. Marines. Air Force officials said no one could have survived the crash. Only five of the 14 men lost were positively identified after remains were recovered from the plane, which was missing for more than a month before discovered on the bottom of the Persian Gulf off Saudi Arabia.
Source: White House Commission on Remembrance, The Gulf War Chronicles, Associated Press (1991)
This issue has plagued me for years. I actually recovered the Voice Recorder Box of Ghost Ridder, Spirit 03.
The Gunship had gone down in shallow waters (10-15 ft.) just off the coast line between Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Our briefing was to recover the Voice Recorder and any remains left behind by a previous Special Ops search team that failed to find the voice recorder. The dive team I was a part of took almost two full days to sift through the aircraft’s debris. We were all free diving due to the shallowness and easiness to reach anywhere surrounding the crash site. There was an Air Force Representative that came along to provide technical assistance but he was not really familiar with the C-130’s airframe structure nor where the recorder was positioned inside the craft… really!
I actually disregarded the AF Reps suggested directives and focused my search pattern to my knowledge of the craft’s airframe structures and standard position/location of its voice recorder.
I could right a small book about this whole ordeal!!! TBC.