1965
29 Apr 65; Charles
Ervin Shelton, Capt. 0-3, Owensville, Ky, USAF, Op 20 & 32, Flying
photo recon over Plain of Jars Laos crashed, captured by Pathet Lao, MIA. Capt.
Shelton had parachuted safely, hid, used emergency radio procedures to make
radio contact with the aircraft but during the rescue attempt, the weather
became adverse as he was being forced from the area by enemy forces hunting him.
After several days, he continued to make radio contact until captured by the
Pathet Lao.
10 Jul 65; William
Horner, SSGT E-6, USASF, MACVSOG, Ops 34, Agent Drop-KIA
18 Oct 65; Larry Alan
Thorne, Capt. 0-3, Norwalk, Conn. ; USASF, Shining Brass, FOB#1, Kham
Duc, Crashed outside of Da Nang aboard Vietnamese CH-34, MIA long with the
Vietnamese Pilot, Co-pilot, and Door Gunner all whom were KIA. Capt. Thorne
became missing after inserting the first MACV-SOG mission from Kham Duc into
Laos. (Capt. Thorne was involved in the insertion of the 1st Shining Brass Recon
Mission ran by Charles "Slate" Petry, Jim "Halo" Smith, and
William "Willie" Card. Capt. Thorne was a passenger when the aircraft
crashed) (See the story by Al Friend, A
Walk in the Indian Camp in the Tales from SOG section). [Thorne
is featured on page 35-37, SOG, A Photo History of the Secret Wars by John
Plaster].
18 Oct 65; Harley B
Piles, Maj 04 and Windfield W. Sisson, Capt.,
0-3, USMC, SOG Liaison Officer, 0-1 Bird Dog, FAC, OP 34-Da Nang Air Base,-MIA. Maj Pile was tasked to orbit the 1st Shining Brass Recon Mission ran
by Charles "Slate" Petry, Jim "Halo" Smith, and William
"Willie" Card to keep a watch on the weather and alert fighter aircraft if
the team got into trouble. The aircraft crashed in bad weather as they were
returning to Da Nang.
28 Oct 65; Robert J
Fay, Commander, LTC 0-5, CO of US Naval Advisory Det, Ban Dao Son Tra
(Monkey Mountain), Op 3 1-Maritime Studies Branch; Fatally wounded by mortar
round while inspecting compound perimeter (LTC Fay was the commander of SOG Ops
31 and was the first Navy "frogman" killed in Vietnam).
