Johnson, Stanley Garwood
Marines 1st lieutenant

Stanley Garwood Johnson, age 25, from Placer County Applegate, California .

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: Friday, December 3, 1965
Death details: On August 5, 2015, the Defense POW/MIA Agency (DPAA) identified the remains of First Lieutenant Stanley Garwood Johnson, missing from the Vietnam War. First Lieutenant Johnson, who joined the U.S. Marine Corps from California, served with Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 364, Marine Air Group 36, 1st Marine Air Wing. On December 3, 1965, he was the copilot of a UH-34D Seahorse helicopter carrying four Marines and nine Vietnamese soldiers on an insertion mission into enemy territory. The helicopter was hit by ground fire, caught fire and crashed west of Tam Ky Town. Everyone on board was killed in the crash. The remains of three of the U.S. crewmen and six Vietnamese soldiers were recovered from the crash site several weeks later, but the remains of 1stLt Johnson could not be recovered at that time. Between 1993 and 2008, joint U.S./Vietnamese recovery teams traveled to the area and conducted several excavations of the crash site and possible burial locations. DPAA teams were able to use evidence from these excavations to account for 1stLt Johnson.

Source: National Archives, dpaa