Klimo, James Robert
Army Sergeant 1st class

James Robert Klimo from Muskegon, Michigan, Muskegon county.

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: November 4, 1969
Death details:  On November 4, 1969, a UH-1H Iroquois (#67-19512) took off from Duc Lap, South Vietnam on a nighttime flight to Nha Trang, South Vietnam. Weather conditions were poor. Shortly after a radio communication reporting the helicopter’s position near Duc My Pass, an air traffic controller at Ninh Hoa received an emergency distress message from the crew. There was no further contact and the helicopter never reached its destination. Search and rescue operations began the next morning as soon as there was daylight for visibility and continued for six days, but search personnel were unable to locate the helicopter, a crash site, or any of the crew members.

Sergeant First Class James Robert Klimo, who entered the U.S. Army from Michigan, served with the 281st Aviation Company, 17th Aviation Group, 1st Aviation Brigade and was the door gunner on this UH-1 at the time of its loss. He remains unaccounted for. Today, Sergeant First Class Klimo is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency