Name: James Clifford McKittrick
Rank/Branch: O3/US Army
Unit: Battery A, 3rd Battalion, 16th Artillery, 54th Artillery Group, II Field
Force, Chu Lai
Date of Birth: 22 June 1942 (Charleston SC)
Home City of Record: Laurens SC
Date of Loss: 18 June 1967
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 143303N 1083012E (BT275115)
Status (in 1973): Missing In Action
Category: 2
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: OH23
Other Personnel In Incident:
Edward Guillory; William Lemmons (both missing)
Source:
Compiled by Homecoming II Project 15 October 1990 from one or more of
the following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with
POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews.
REMARKS:
SYNOPSIS:
SFC Edward Guillory, Lt. William Lemmons and Maj. James McKittrick
were aboard an OH23 Raven helicopter on a visual recon mission operating in
Quang Tin Province on June 18, 1967. They were to spot artillery targets for the
Artillary Battery that McKitrick and Guillory were attached to.
At 1845 hours, the helicopter was declared missing. Extensive searches were conducted that night aided by artillery flares and aircraft mounted searchlights, but no trace of the aircraft or crew was found. In the next few days several crash sites were reported and searches made, but all efforts were fruitless.
Guillory, Lemmons and McKittrick were classified Missing In Action. There is reason to believe the enemy knows their fates. They are among nearly 2500 Americans still missing in Southeast Asia.
When the war ended, and 591 Americans were released in Operation Homecoming in 1973, military experts expressed their dismay that "some hundreds" of POWs did not come home with them. Since that time, thousands of reports have been received, indicating that many Americans are still being held against their will in Southeast Asia. Whether the crew of the OH23 is among them is not known. What is certain, however, is that if only one American remains alive in enemy hands, we owe him our best effort to bring him home.
William E. Lemmons and James C. McKittrick were promoted to the rank of Major and Edward J. Guillory was promoted to ther rank of Sergeant Major during the period they were maintained missing.
