On
23 April 1972, Capt.
Kenneth J. Yonan was a
member of Advisory Team
22, MACV and assigned as
an advisor to the ARVN
42nd Regiment, Tanh Canh
Base Camp, Kontum
Province, South Vietnam.
That
evening Capt. Yonan
accompanied his ARVN
counterpart to a water
tower located on the
northwestern edge of the
Tanh Canh Base Camp
compound near Dak To. The
water tower doubled as an
observation post. The base
camp had been alerted to a
large NVA build up in the
region and they were
expecting to be attacked.
At
approximately 0530 hours
on 24 April, Capt. Yonan
was still in the water
tower when communist
forces attacked the camp
perimeter with everything
they had, including tanks.
Although the tanks fired
at and hit the water
tower, two other advisors
spoke to Capt. Yonan
afterward. He reported
that he was not wounded,
and planned to join the
other advisors when it was
safe to do so. Radio
contact was maintained
with Yonan until 0730
hours. At that time Tanh
Canh Base Camp was deemed
no longer defendable and
the other US advisors
began escape and evasion
(E&E) operations from
the beleaguered compound.
Helicopters
from the 57th Aviation
Company, 52nd Aviation
Battalion, 17th Aviation
Group were dispatched to
rescue as many of the base
camp survivors as
possible. The crew of one
of these Huey helicopters
(serial #69-15715) was
comprised of Lt. James E.
Hunsicker, pilot; WO Wade
L. Ellen, co-pilot; SP4
Charles M. Lea, door
gunner; and SP5 Ricky B.
Vogle,
crew chief. Also
aboard the Huey was SP4
Franklin Zollicoffer*, a
medic from the US Army
installation at Pleiku
assigned to this flight to
treat the wounded. *According
to an email I received
from Sgt. Vogle, dtd 10
Jul 03, SP4 Zollicoffer was
picked up at "...Dak
To 2 airstrip the same
time we rescued the rest
of team 22..."
They
were able to rescue Maj.
George W. Carter, Maj.
Julius G. Warmath and
Capt. John P. Keller, who
were all assigned to
Advisory Team 22. They
also rescued 1st Lt.
Johnny M. Jones who was
attached to the Advisory
Team from the 57th
Aviation Company, and Sgt.
Walter H. Ward whose unit
of assignment is unknown.
The
Huey departed the base
camp to the northwest. It
was apparently struck by
enemy ground fire because
it crashed and burned on a
small island in the Dak
Poko River. The distance
the Huey traveled before
crashing was only about
500 meters, which was also
the distance from the end
of the dock on the island
to the runway.
*According
to Sgt. Vogel, "...we
departed to the west and
tried to climb to low
cloud cover, when we lost
engine power &
transmission fluid, E.G.T.
was in the Red last thing
Jim said was Hang on were
going down then his head
snapped back as I watched
the bullet exit his flight
helmet..."
Because of
the rolling terrain,
personnel at the airfield
did not see the aircraft
impact the ground. A pilot
flying over the wreckage
reported that the
helicopter was burning and
that he could see no
survivors. It was later
discovered that at least
five people did survive
the crash when they made
their own way to safety.
The survivors were Julius
Warmath, John Keller,
Ricky Vogle, Walter Ward
and Charles Lea. The
survivors reported that
James Hunsicker, Wade
Ellen (the pilot and
co-pilot respectively),
Franklin Zollicoffer (the
medic), Johnny Jones and
George Carter (both
passengers) all died in
the crash.
Then
Lt. Col. Robert W.
Brownlee, a senior
district advisor, and
Capt. Charles W. Creen,
were assigned to Team 22.
The two Americans, along
with Sgt. Cao Ky Chi,
their ARVN interpreter;
were located in a bunker
near the airstrip
approximately 4 kilometers
to the west of the base
camp. This location was
known as "Dak To
II."
The
three men were forced to
withdraw from the bunker
under heavy enemy attack.
They proceeded south of
the compound and swam
across the Dak Poko River.
As they were fording the
river, Capt. Creen and
Sgt. Chi were swept
downstream and were
temporarily separated from
Lt. Col. Brownlee. Robert
Brownlee safely reached
the south bank of the
river and began climbing a
hill.
From
the top of the hill, Sgt.
Chi heard the enemy call
out to someone in
Vietnamese to halt and
raise his hands. Sgt. Chi
observed an ARVN soldier
approximately 100 meters
away raise his hands. Sgt.
Chi had no personal
knowledge of the fate of
Lt. Col. Brownlee. Capt.
Creen and Sgt. Chi evaded
capture and eventually
made their way to safety.
Capt.
Yonan never caught up with
the other advisors as they
attempted to evade
capture. For three days,
helicopter searches were
conducted in the area of
Tanh Canh Base Camp
without success. A ground
search of the camp and
surrounding area was not
possible due to the
hostile threat in the
area. At the time the
formal rescue operation
was terminated, Robert
Brownlee and Kenneth Yonan
were listed Missing in
Action while George
Carter, Wade Ellen, James
Hunsicker, Johnny Jones
and Franklin Zollicoffer
were listed Killed in
Action/Body Not Recovered.
Later
an ARVN soldier, who was
captured and subsequently
released, reported that he
talked to another ARVN
prisoner who claimed to
have witnessed Lt. Col.
Brownlee's death. He was
told that Lt. Col.
Brownlee killed himself
with his own pistol when
communist soldiers told
him to raise his hands.
Another ARVN soldier
provided the same hearsay
information of Robert
Brownlee's suicide.
In
addition to the reports
regarding Lt. Col.
Brownlee's death, a South
Vietnamese soldier
reported he observed the
capture of one
"big" American
from the camp. Another
report described the
capture of an American
Captain stationed at the
camp. Those reports could
only be correlated to
Kenneth Yonan. Capt.
Yonan's status was
immediately upgraded from
Missing in Action to
Prisoner of War.
On
6 April 1988, the
Vietnamese
"discovered" the
remains of Kenneth Yonan
and returned them to the
US representatives without
explanation in a spirit of
stepped-up cooperation on
the POW/MIA issue. Those
remains were identified on
19 October 1988 and
subsequently returned to
his family for burial.
While Kenneth Yonan's fate
is finally resolved, there
are no answers to the
questions of when and how
he died.
As
for George Carter, Wade
Ellen, James Hunsicker,
Johnny Jones and Franklin
Zollicoffer, if these men
are dead as reported by
survivors of the
helicopter crash, there is
no question the Vietnamese
could return their remains
any time they had the
desire to do so. Each one
of them has the right to
have his remains returned
to his family, friends and
country.
If
Robert Brownlee did commit
suicide rather than
surrender to the NVA, as
the hearsay reports of his
death indicate, the NVA
absolutely can return his
remains. However, if these
reports of his death have
no basis in fact, his fate
like that of other
Americans who remain
unaccounted for in
Southeast Asia, could be
quite different.
Since
the end of the Vietnam War
well over 21,000 reports
of American prisoners,
missing and otherwise
unaccounted for have been
received by our
government. Many of these
reports document LIVE
American Prisoners of War
remaining captive
throughout Southeast Asia
TODAY.
American
military men in Vietnam
were call upon to fly and
fight in many dangerous
circumstances, and they
were prepared to be
wounded, killed or
captured. It probably
never occurred to them
that they could be
abandoned by the country
they so proudly served.
* Please
note: Sgt. Ricky
Vogle was incorrectly
identified as Ricky Bogle
in the original biography
provided by Task Force
Omega. The bio on
this page has been
corrected per email from
Sgt. Vogle, dtd 10 Jul 03;
corrections can be
identified by an *.
Incidental Information
Did you serve with this HERO? Is
he Family, an old friend, or a High School Sweetheart? Is there something
special you would like to share about James -- If so, I would like to hear about
it and post it on this page!!
Please send me an e-mail
E-mail
request from Sgt. Rick
Vogel -- rickvogel@midmo.net