Page 11 - Aerotech News and Review 9-4-15

Soldier missing from GULF WAR, from 10 “As we were coming into the ob- Looking forward
jective, you could see the smoke, see As a whole, Underhill said the de-
Vietnam War accounted for Humvees, because for the most part rockets,” Underhill said. “They were
troops moved by foot or helicopter. GURSSLQJURFNHWVDQGVWLOO¿ULQJVRPH ployment still seems like much longer
The Department of Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced TOWs [tube-launched, optically- than 25 years ago. It is an experience
“[Improvised explosive devices] tracked, wire-guided). As we came into that helped him and others like him
Aug. 21 that the remains of a serviceman, missing from the Vietnam War, weren’t a big deal because I don’t the [landing zone], we got a glimpse of when U.S. Armed Forces deployed
KDYHEHHQLGHQWL¿HGDQGZLOOEHEXULHGZLWKIXOOPLOLWDU\KRQRUV think we drove anywhere. We pretty this large group of people that had ba- to Afghanistan in 2001 and then later
much flew,” he said. “The convoys sically all came out and surrendered.” again to Iraq in 2003. The Screaming
Army Maj. Dale W. Richardson of Mount Sterling, Ill., was buried Aug. were used to just kind of bring in sup- Eagles returned home victors from
port stuff forward to where the infantry Underhill conducted overwatch of Operations Desert Shield and Desert
29, in Mountain View, Ark. were.” the hundreds of prisoners of war while Storm without mass casualties, with
Charlie Company came in on Chi- the last 101st Airborne Division Sol-
Richardson was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 34th Armor Regiment, 1st Supplies were often delivered by nooks to help manage the withdrawal dier returning home in May. After
air, allowing 101st Airborne Division of the large number of Iraqis. the return home, the Army worked to
Cavalry Division, and was the passenger aboard an UH-1H Iroquois (Huey) units to showcase their slingload ca- become more rapidly deployable and
pabilities. Underhill also made it out of an air- applied other lessons learned when the
helicopter that was en route to Fire Support Base Katum, South Vietnam, craft crash unscathed as his unit pre- Global War on Terror began.
“We lived by hook,” Underhill said. pared to leave for the Euphrates River
when it was diverted due to bad weather. “Food came by hook. Ammo came Valley. “If you take a retreaded Humvee tire
$IWHUÀ\LQJLQWR&DPERGLDQDLUVSDFHWKHDLUFUDIWFDPHXQGHUKHDY\HQHP\ on hook. Water came on hook. They and put it in 120 degrees sand, it will
ZRXOGÀ\LQGURSLW6XSSO\VHUJHDQW “We probably gained about maybe melt the glue and the tread will fall
JURXQG¿UHFDXVLQJWKHSLORWWRPDNHDQHPHUJHQF\ODQGLQJLQ.DPSRQJ and a couple people would go out and 100 to 150 feet of altitude at best, off,” O’Brien said. “So we knew that
break those down and bring it around.” and then we barely cleared the dust before we went [back to the Middle
Cham Province, Cambodia. The Huey’s four crewmen and its four passengers cloud and I felt the helicopter kind East]. In the United States, most of
For the most part, Underhill’s de- of shift over to one side,” Underhill the spare tires we had were retreads,
survived the landing. One crewman was able to evade being captured by en- SOR\PHQWFRQVLVWHGRI¿OOLQJVDQGEDJV said. “Basically we had picked up and which would have been a disaster. But
as well as overwatch and other similar we’d kind of done an arch … once we EHFDXVHRIWKHOHVVRQVOHDUQHGWKH¿UVW
emy forces and later returned to friendly lines. The other three crewmen and typical infantry Soldier duties, as well cleared the dust I couldn’t see anything time, the second time going we were
as a lot of training in the months lead- but air and the next thing you hear is able to correct all of those things.”
one passenger were captured. Two of the captured crewmen were released ing up to the launch of the ground war ‘Thud, thud, thud,’ and you hear the
in February. Underhill remembers just rotors, because as we came into the Underhill deployed twice to Af-
by the Vietnamese in 1973, and the remains of the other two captured men how hot it was during the day and the ground, the rotors are still turning … ghanistan in support of Operation En-
ZHUHUHWXUQHGWR86FRQWUROLQWKHVDQGLGHQWL¿HG5LFKDUGVRQGLHGDW surprisingly cold spring nights, as well smacking the ground and the aircraft during Freedom and then three more
WKHVLWHRIWKHFUDVKGXULQJD¿UH¿JKWZLWKHQHP\IRUFHV+LVUHPDLQVZHUH as the fact that Saudi Arabia looked came in on its right side.” times to Iraq during Operation Iraqi
QRWUHFRYHUHGDIWHUWKH¿UH¿JKW much like walking on the moon. Freedom.
Luckily, those on the aircraft sus-
From 1992 through 2008, joint U.S./Kingdom of Cambodia teams inves- “There was always a purpose for tained only minor injuries and Under- “I learned a lot of good lessons in
what we were doing, we were postured hill boarded a Chinook the next day Iraq,” he said. “How to keep your wa-
tigated the site without success. On Feb. 18, 2009, a joint team interviewed for defending Saudi Arabia,” he said. for the Euphrates River Valley. It was ter cold without refrigeration. How
there were his battalion took a pump- to keep your weapon clean … It was
witnesses in the Memot District of Cambodia who claimed to have infor- Some of his more memorable de- ing station as part of the ground war. pretty formative.”
PDWLRQRQWKHORVV7KHZLWQHVVHVLGHQWL¿HGDSRVVLEOHEXULDOVLWHIRUWKH ployment stories include participat-
ing in a mission to help apprehend an
unaccounted for servicemen. The team excavated the burial site but was Iraqi battalion on one of the vehicle
routes just days prior to the start of the
unsuccessful locating the remains. ground war.

From Jan. 16, 2010, to March 11, 2011, joint U.S./K.O.C. teams excavated

the area, but were unsuccessful recovering the crewman’s remains.

In February 2012, another joint U.S./K.O.C. team re-interviewed two of
WKHZLWQHVVHV7KHZLWQHVVHVLGHQWL¿HGDVHFRQGDU\EXULDOVLWHQHDUWKHSUH-

viously excavated site. The team excavated the secondary burial site and

recovered human remains and military gear from a single grave.
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)RUFHV'1$,GHQWL¿FDWLRQ/DERUDWRU\DQDO\]HGFLUFXPVWDQWLDOHYLGHQFH
DQGXVHGIRUHQVLFLGHQWL¿FDWLRQWRROVWRLQFOXGHPLWRFKRQGULDO'1$ZKLFK

matched his sister.

September 3, 2015 Aerotech News and Review 11

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