Lake City Florida

Jimmy Ray Garbett, age 31, from Lake City, Florida, Columbia county.

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: Thursday, October 9, 1969
Death details: On October 9, 1969, a UH-1D Iroquois (tail number 63-8826) with nine men aboard was taking off after a troop extraction when its rotor blades struck some trees along the Dong Na River bank. In an attempt to regain altitude and airspeed, the pilot headed over the river, but the helicopter soon struck the water and sank within seconds. Other aircraft in the area surveyed the crash site and observed personnel and debris in the water, but they were soon swept under by the swift current. Only two men were able to survive the crash and swim to shore to be rescued. The remains of two other individuals who were aboard the helicopter were eventually recovered and identified, but the remaining five men are still unaccounted for. Specialist 4 Jimmy Ray Garbett entered the U.S. Army from Florida and served in Company A, 5th Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 199th Light Infantry Brigade. He was a passenger on board this helicopter at the time of its crash and could not be located following the incident. Attempts to recover his remains were unsuccessful. The Army promoted Specialist 4 Garbett to the rank of sergeant after the incident. Today, Sergeant Garbett is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. Based on all information available, DPAA assessed the individual’s case to be in the analytical category of Non-recoverable.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency