Konyu, William Michael
Army Warrant officer

William Michael Konyu from Phillipsburg, New Jersey.

Date of death: Wednesday, April 16, 1969
Death details: On April 16, 1969, eight Company B helicopters were on a mission to support Detachment B-52 (Project Delta), 5th Special Forces Group.  Forty-Six Special Forces soldiers were to be inserted to reinforce a six man reconnaissance team in danger of being over-run by an unknown size enemy force approximately 70 kilometers (44 miles) west-southwest of Da Nang in wartime Quang Nam Province, South Vietnam.  WO1 Konyu, as the pilot, flew the lead UH-1H helicopter (tail number 66-16343) carrying eight Project Delta soldiers.  At 1330 hours during the final approzch to the landing zone, the helicopter was hit by intense enemy ground fire from the front and the left side that that shattered the windshield on the pilot’s side of the helicopter.  W)1 Konyu was seen to slump over the controls after a bullet struck him in the face, and the aircraft commander was wounded.  Control of the helicopter was lost causing it to crash on the landing zone coming to rest on its left side.  The helicopter burst into flames while the crew chief and door guner helped to rescue the wounded aircraft commander and the passengers.  The intense heat of the fire made it impossible to extricate WO1 Konyu’s body.  Several of those on the ground at the time inspected the aircraft after the fire subsided and reported seeing a severely burned body in the pilot’s seat.  A Detachment B-52 ground team returned to the crash site four days later to recover the WO1 Konyu’s remains, but found that the enemy disturbed the wreckage tipping over the pilots seat.  The ground team sifted through the ashes and found no remains.  He remains unaccounted for.

Sources: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency