Name: Harry Willis Brown
Rank/Branch: E5/US Army
Unit: 50th Medical Detachment, 43rd Medical Group, 44th Medical Brigade
Date of Birth: 16 August 1943
Home City of Record: Charleston SC
Date of Loss: 12 February 1968
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 121721N 1074713E (ZU030600)
Status (in 1973): Missing In Action
Category: 4
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: UH1H
Other Personnel In Incident:
Wade L. Groth, Alan W. Gunn, Jerry L. Roe (all
missing)
REMARKS:
SYNOPSIS:
On February 12, 1968, SP5 Harry Brown, medic; 1Lt. Jerry Roe, aircraft
commander; WO Alan Gunn, pilot; and SP4 Wade Groth, crewchief, were flying a
UH1H (tail #66-17027) dispatched on a night medical evacuation mission
(dustoff). Dustoff 90 departed Ban Me Thuot, South Vietnam for Gia Nghai
Special Forces camp.
As U.S. Air Force Tactical Control Radar operators at Ban Me Thuot tracked the flight, the blip that was the UH1H dustoff chopper disappeared from the screen at 2019 hours. The helicopter apparently went down 20 minutes outbound from its base in a mountainous region of Quang Duc Province.
An Army Infantry unit searched the apparent crash site near the Cambodian border for 36 hours, but found neither the helicopter nor its crew. Snipers were not known to be in the area, and it is not believed the helicopter was shot down, according to an Army report, indicating possible mechanical trouble.
In April 1969, CIA was asked to analyze the positive identifications made by a rallier of a number of photographs of missing Americans. The rallier selected the photos of both Harry Brown and Jerry Roe as two men he believed to have been prisoners of war. CIA could not determine why the source selected them.
In 1979, Sean O'Toolis, an Irish-American, was touring Bong Song Camp, 40 miles south of Hanoi, on an IRA gun-buying mission, when he alleges he met and spoke with American prisoners, Brendon Foley and Wade Groth, a prison workmate of Foley's. He also claims to have talked to men named MacDonald, Jenning and an O'Hare or O'Hara. He brought a message to Foley's brother and fingerprints of Foley and O'Hara. He identified old photos of Groth, and gave believable descriptions of Foley and Groth. Neither family knows whether or not to believe O'Toolis, as much of his account of his travels seems incorrect.
Whether the four men aboard the dustoff lost on February 12, 1968 survived to be captured is unknown. The coincidence of two separate sources identifying three members of the crew seems to strong to ignore. The U.S. Government does not believe there is any substance to these reports. Based on thousands of still-classified sighting reports, many experts believe hundreds of Americans did survive, and are still alive, waiting to be brought home. If even one is alive, he must be brought home.
