Helicopter extradition 28 March 1968

Huston, Charles Gregory
Army Staff sergeant

Charles Gregory Huston, age 22, from Sidney, Ohio, Shelby county. Their last known residence was in Sidney.

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: March 28, 1968
Death details: On March 28, 1968, an eleven-man reconnaissance patrol in the Savannakhet Province of Laos engaged an unknown size enemy force and requested helicopter extraction in the vicinity of (GC) XD 434 574. The helicopter lowered a rope ladder and as the men climbed up it, one at a time, the helicopter came under heavy enemy fire. The ladder broke with one U.S. soldier on it and he fell to the ground. The helicopter was then forced to leave the area. The U.S. soldier who had fallen and two other U.S. soldiers remained on the ground. A search team was inserted into the area two days later but was unable to locate the three men.

Sergeant Charles Gregory Huston, who joined the U.S. Army from Ohio, served with the Command and Control Detachment, 5th Special Forces Group. He was one of the patrol members who was forced to wait for later extraction, and his remains were not recovered. Subsequent to the incident, and while carried in the status of missing in action (MIA), the U.S. Army promoted Sergeant Huston to the rank of Sergeant First Class (SFC). Today, Sergeant First Class Huston is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency

Brown, George Ronald Army sergeant major

George Ronald Brown, age 32, from Holly Hill, Florida, Volusia county.

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: Thursday, March 28, 1968

Death details: On February 9, 2005, the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC, now DPAA) identified the remains of Sergeant Major George Ronald Brown, missing from the Vietnam War.

Sergeant Major Brown entered the U.S. Army from Florida and was a member of C & C Detachment, Drawer 22 (MACV-SOG), 5th Special Forces Group, 1st Special Forces. On March 28, 1968, he was with a reconnaissance patrol being extracted by helicopter from Savannakhet Province, Laos. While hovering, the helicopter came under enemy fire and was forced to ascend with a rope extraction ladder still hanging from the aircraft. The ladder broke before the remaining men could climb it, including SGM Brown, and he either fell to his death or was killed by enemy fire in the landing area. His remains could not be recovered at the time. In 1992, a joint U.S./Laotian investigation team was led to a common grave related to this incident, where they found some material evidence from the case but could not locate SGM Brown’s remains. However, a U.S. citizen later turned over human remains received from a Laotian refugee, and modern forensic techniques were able to identify SGM Brown from these remains.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, findagrave.com

Boyer, Alan Lee
Army Sergeant 1st class

Alan Lee Boyer, age 22, from Montana, Missoula county.

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: Thursday, March 28, 1968

Death details: On February 10, 2016, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) identified the remains of Sergeant First Class Alan Lee Boyer, missing from the Vietnam War.

Sergeant First Class Boyer joined the U.S. Army from Illinois and served with a reconnaissance team assigned to the Military Assistance Command, Vietnam, Studies and Observation Group (MACV-SOG). On March 28, 1968, he was a member of an eleven-man reconnaissance team conducting a classified reconnaissance mission in Savannakhet Province, Laos. The group was discovered and attacked by enemy forces, and requested extraction. A U.S. Air Force CH-3 Jolly Green Giant extraction helicopter was able to rescue seven of the men, but the rope ladder broke before the remaining four men could climb it, including SFC Boyer. Further attempts to rescue him were unsuccessful. Many years later, a U.S. citizen turned over to DPAA human remains that he had received from a Laotian refugee. Modern forensic techniques and DNA analysis were able to identify these remains as those of SFC Boyer.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency

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