Iroquois crash 28 December 1965

Grella, Donald Carroll
Army Specialist 5

Donald Carroll Grella, age 25, from Cedar County Laurel, Nebraska .

Service era: Veitnam

Date of death: Tuesday, December 28, 1965
Death details: On July 24, 2009, the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC, now DPAA) identified the remains of Specialist 5 Donald Carroll Grella, missing from the Vietnam War. Specialist 5 Grella joined the U.S. Army from Nebraska and was a member of the 7th Special Forces Group. On December 28, 1965, he was aboard a UH-1D Iroquois that went down during a mission to pick up Special Forces soldiers in Gai Lai Province, Vietnam. All the men aboard the helicopter were killed, and search and rescue efforts failed to locate the crash site at the time. However, in 2006, a joint U.S. and Vietnamese investigative team interviewed a Vietnamese local who was able to escort them to the crash site. Excavations at the site in 2009 recovered human remains, and modern forensic techniques were able to individually identify SP5 Grella’s remains among them. Specialist 5 Grella is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. His name is also inscribed along with all his fallen comrades on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, DC.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Lincoln Journal Star (2010)

Phelps, Jesse Donald
Army Chief warrant officer 2

Jesse Donald Phelps, age 29, from Ada County Boise, Idaho .

Spouse: Dolores A. Phelps

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: Tuesday, December 28, 1965
Death details: On August 24, 2009, the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC, now DPAA) identified the remains of Chief Warrant Officer Jesse Donald Phelps, missing from the Vietnam War. Chief Warrant Officer Phelps joined the U.S. Army from Idaho and was a member of the 7th Special Forces Group. On December 28, 1965, he was the pilot of a UH-1D Iroquois that went down during a mission to pick up Special Forces soldiers in Gai Lai Province, Vietnam. All the men aboard the helicopter were killed, and search and rescue efforts failed to locate the crash site at the time. However, in 2006, a joint U.S. and Vietnamese investigative team interviewed a Vietnamese local who was able to escort them to the crash site. Excavations at the site in 2009 recovered human remains, and modern forensic techniques were able to individually identify CWO Phelps among them. Chief Warrant Officer Phelps is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. His name is also inscribed along with all his fallen comrades on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, DC.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Idaho Statesman (1967), Times News (1967)

Rice, Thomas Jr.
Army Specialist 4

Thomas Jr. Rice, age 23, from Spartanburg County Spartanburg, South Carolina .

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: Tuesday, December 28, 1965
Death details: On August 25, 2009, the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC, now DPAA) identified the remains of Specialist 4 Thomas Rice Jr., missing from the Vietnam War. Specialist 4 Rice joined the U.S. Army from South Carolina and was a member of the 7th Special Forces Group. On December 28, 1965, he was the door gunner aboard a UH-1D Iroquois that went down during a mission to pick up Special Forces soldiers in Gai Lai Province, Vietnam. All four members of the Iroquois’s crew were killed in the crash, and search and rescue efforts failed to locate the crash site. However, in 2006, a joint U.S. and Vietnamese investigative team interviewed a Vietnamese local who was able to escort them to UH-1D’s crash site. Excavations at the site in 2009 recovered human remains, and modern forensic techniques were able to individually identify SP4 Rice from among them. Specialist 4 Rice is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. His name is also inscribed along with all his fallen comrades on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, DC.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency

Stancil, Kenneth Leon
Army Chief warrant officer 2

Kenneth Leon Stancil, age 31, from Hamilton County Chattanooga, Tennessee .

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: Tuesday, December 28, 1965
Death details: On September 9, 2009, the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC, now DPAA) identified the remains of Chief Warrant Officer Kenneth Leon Stancil, missing from the Vietnam War. Chief Warrant Officer Stancil joined the U.S. Army from Tennessee and was a member of the 7th Special Forces Group. On December 28, 1965, he was aboard a UH-1D Iroquois that went down during a mission to pick up Special Forces soldiers in Gia Lai Province, Vietnam. He and the other crew members were killed in the crash, and search and rescue efforts failed to locate the crash site. However, in 2006, a joint U.S. and Vietnamese investigative team interviewed a Vietnamese local who was able to escort them to the helicopter’s crash site. Excavations at the site in 2009 recovered human remains, and modern forensic techniques were able to individually identify CWO Stancil from among them. Chief Warrant Officer Stancil is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. His name is also inscribed along with all his fallen comrades on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, DC.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency

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