Help our POWs and MIAs
PUGGI, JOSEPH DAVID
Name: Joseph David Puggi
Rank/Branch: E5/US Army
Unit: B Troop, 1st Squad, 9th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division
Date of Birth: 26 November 1946
Home City of Record: Pleasantville NJ
Date of Loss: 02 February 1968
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 161209N 1081006E (AT960937)
Status (in 1973): Missing In Action
Category: 4
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: UH1H
Refno: 1024
Other Personnel In Incident: Kenneth J. Patton; Joe H.
Pringle; Charles Adkins; Donald Burnham (all missing)
Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 15 June 1990
from one or more of the following: raw data from U.S.
Government agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA
families, published sources, interviews. Updated by the
P.O.W. NETWORK 1998.
REMARKS: CRASHSITE/PRINGLE ID FOUND
SYNOPSIS: Donald Burnham was the pilot of a UH1H helicopter
(#66-16442) that departed Camp Evans, Quang Tri, Republic
of Vietnam for Chu Lai, Republic of Vietnam on February
2, 1968. Also aboard were SP4 Charles Adkins, SFC Joe
Pringle, SSgt Joseph Puggi, passengers; and SP4 Kenneth
Patton, crewchief. The personnel aboard the aircraft were
all members of B Troop, 1st Squad, 9th Cavalry, 1st
Cavalry Division.
During a ground radar-controlled approach to Da Nang
Airbase, the controller lost radio contact with the
helicopter and subsequently lost radar contact. The
last positive position of the aircraft was 12 miles
north of Da Nang.
After attempts to contact Captain Burnham by radio
failed, ramp checks were conducted by another pilot
from his unit. Search of the area to the north of
Da Nang failed to locate the missing aircraft.
On May 28, 1968, a crashed and burned UH1H
helicopter (tail #6442) was located in the
appropriate vicinity and a search party
recovered an ID tag belonging to SFC Pringle,
several weapons, and some human bones. The ID
tag and weapons were given to an unidentified
major; subsequent attempts to trace the weapons
have been unsuccessful.
All human remains were given to the U.S. Army
Mortuary at Da Nang, and were subsequently
determined unidentifiable. Search attempts
terminated on November 16, 1972. Because of
the density of the underbrush, no attempt to
recover further remains was made. The crash
site was photographed in July 1974, at which
time it became known that parts of the aircraft
had been recovered by a Vietnamese woodcutter.
No evidence of human remains were found in the
area.
Donald Burnham's photograph was identified by a
Vietnamese rallier as having been a prisoner of
war. CIA analysis failed to determine why
Burnham's photo was selected, as neither he nor
the other crew were seen by returned POWs.
If it were not for over 10,000 reports of Americans
still held captive in Southeast Asia, the families
of the men aboard UH1H #6442 might be able to give
up hope of seeing their sons and brothers again.
But as long as there is evidence that even one is
alive, the possibility exists that any of the crew
of the UH1H lost on February 2, 1968 could be alive.