Lockport New York

Robert Eugene Foster from Lockport, New York, Niagara county.

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: Wednesday, March 9, 1966
Death details: 

On March 9, 1966, an AC-47 Spooky (bureau number 44-76290) with six crew members was providing close air support in defense of the A Shau Special Forces Camp, which was under heavy enemy assault and in danger of being overrun. On its second pass at treetop level over the enemy, the Spooky was hit by enemy ground fire, which tore the right engine from its mounts and forced the pilot to crash land on a nearby mountainside, in the vicinity of grid coordinates YC 481 871. The crew set up a defensive perimeter around the aircraft but the enemy attacked again. Soon after, the crew made radio contact with a U.S. Army pilot, who then located the downed Spooky and directed additional U.S. aircraft to make passes over the area to suppress enemy fire. The downed crew eventually received word that rescue helicopters were en route but within a short while, enemy fire raked the side of the Spooky and killed two crew members. A third enemy assault began just as the rescue helicopter arrived; the helicopter rescued three of the remaining four crew members. The two crew members who died during the action, and the remaining crew member who was not rescued following the third assault, were not recovered and all remain unaccounted-for.

Staff Sergeant Robert Eugene Foster entered the U.S. Air Force from New York and served in the 6250th Combat Support Group. He was a gunner aboard this AC-47 when it was shot down on March 9, 1966, and was killed when enemy fire raked the downed aircraft before the rescue helicopter landed. His remains were not recovered at the time but were observed at the loss area by survivors from the special forces camp who investigated the area following the crash. He remains unaccounted-for. Today, Staff Sergeant Foster is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency