The Douglas AC47D, nicknamed
"Puff the Magic Dragon" or "Spooky," was a nocturnal savior
to American, South Vietnamese and Royal Lao troops at besieged outposts deep in
Viet Cong and Pathet Lao-held territory. The C47D had a row of 7.62mm miniguns
mounted along the left side of its fuselage and could fly overhead in a pylon
turn bringing torrents of extremely accurate and precise gunfire raining down on
the enemy.
On 9 March 1966, Capt. Howard W.
Henninger, pilot; then Capt. Robert E Pasekoff, co-pilot; Capt. Gerald E. Olson,
navigator; TSgt. Edwin E. Morgan, loadmaster; SSgt. Gene E. Davis, flight
mechanic; SSgt. Marshall I. Pauley, aerial gunner and Sgt. Dean A Duvall, aerial
gunner; comprised the crew of an AC47D gunship, call sign "Spooky 73."
They departed DaNang Airfield at 0300 hours on an armed reconnaissance mission
along Route 92 that ran through the dense jungle covered mountains of Quang Nam
Province, South Vietnam.
The mission was scheduled to last 3
hours. Weather conditions were good. It was a moonlit night with scattered to
broken clouds, smoke and haze. Approximately 22 minutes after Spooky 73 took
off, Capt. Henninger established radio contact with a standard communications
check. At that time there was no indication of any trouble with the aircraft.
When Spooky 73 failed to return to
base as scheduled, a ramp check of all bases that the AC47D could have diverted
to was made. At 0800 hours the aircraft was declared overdue and initial search
and rescue (SAR) operations initiated. At 0740 hours on 14 March 1966, full SAR
operations using 2 AIE and 1 HE16B aircraft combed the dense jungle covered
mountains along Route 92 and their briefed flight path of Spooky 73. This search
effort was terminated at 1430 hours with no findings or sightings of the missing
aircraft or its crew observed.
The last known location of Capt.
Henninger's aircraft and crew placed them over rugged mountains covered in
triple canopy jungle. At that time Spooky 73 was on a heading of 250 degrees;
approximately 9 miles south of the South Vietnamese/Lao border, 33 miles
southeast of Kham Duc and 58 miles west-southwest of DaNang, Quang Nam Province,
South Vietnam.
SAR operations continued on 15 March
with two sorties of SAR aircraft dispatched to the area of the downed gunship.
Beeper signals were heard by rescue personnel, however, the beeper signals were
not of code and too short in duration to pinpoint their location. Likewise,
there was no way to determine which crewmen were attempting transmission. All
search efforts were terminated at 1730 hours with negative results. At the time
these efforts were terminated, Howard Henninger, Dean Duvall, Marshall Pauley,
Robert Pasekoff, Gerald Olson, Edwin Morgan and Gene Davis were immediately
listed Missing in Action.
In April 1969, a CIA intelligence
report, which was generated by DaNang Regional Intelligence, compiled a very
detailed description of the Viet Cong's Huong Thuy District (South Vietnam)
committee headquarters, along with details of a communist prison camp. This camp
was located approximately 20 miles south of Hue/Phu Bai and 40 miles northwest
of DaNang. The document included maps of the facility as well as information on
many of the communist staff, including names, backgrounds and jobs performed.
Also included in this document was a
list of 22 American POWs by name who were positively identified from pre-capture
photographs. An additional list of 32 Americans tentatively identified was also
attached. The source stated that following the 1968 Tet offensive, prisoners
were transferred from this camp to either North Vietnam or to an agricultural
camp at an unknown location near the South Vietnam/Lao border. Gerald Olson was
named as one of the possibly identified POWs. There was no indication if any of
the other crewmen were also incarcerated in this camp. None of the families of
those listed as positively or possibly identified Prisoners of War were ever
told of this report until it was declassified in 1985 - some 17 years later.
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
America Prisoners of War remaining captive throughout Southeast Asia TODAY.
Military men in Vietnam were called
upon to 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.
Incidental Information
