21 Jan 71; Joseph J. Slifka, Jr. ILT 0-2, USASF, CCS, OPS 35. died during an Remain Over Night (RON) incident where 1Lt Slifka stepped out of the perimeter to relieve himself. The team had taken along a Captain who was unaware of the team’s procedures, as a strap hanger, who heard a noise and fired in the direction of the noise, killing Lt Slifka. However, other records have Lt Slifka as being killed as a result of a motor vehicle accident on 21 Jan 72 (Details furnished by a CCS member)

22 Jan 71; Kenneth Lovelace, SSG E-6. USASF Instructor, Recon Tm Ldrs School, B-53, Long Than, Ops 38; Frank A. Celano, SGT E-5 and Hugh D. Opperman, SGT E-5, USASF, CCC, Kontum, Ops 35 KIA These three individuals were attending the SOG Reconnaissance Team Leader’s Course and while a on Recon, they were engaged by an unexpected enemy which overwhelmed them by number.

28 Jan 71; Arthur A. Smith, SGT E-5, USASF CCN, Da Nang, Ops 35, died as a result of Non Hostile Action

29 Jan 71; David Ives Mixter, SGT E-5 of Darien, Conn, USASF, CCC, RT Colorado, Kontum, Ops 35 MIA-Body not recovered. While on a recon mission operating in Laos that made contact with an enemy force. The enemy used B-40 rocket propelled grenades against the team and one exploded directly in front of Mixer. He was checked by a team member, he was covered with blood and did not respond, thought to be dead and was left behind in the effort to break contact with the enemy. Due to heavy enemy activity his remains were left behind. NOTE: Mixer was SOG’s final MIA in Laos.

15 Feb 71; Marvin Maurice Leonard, W02, Pilot of Grand Rapids, Mich; Barry Frank Fivelson, WO-2 of Evanston, Ill; James Harry Taylor, 2LT 0-1 of Oroville, CA; Everett Crone, SP/4 of Whittier, CA; Willis Calvin Crear, SP/4 of Birmingham, CA and John Lynn Powers, SP/4 of Mackay, Idaho, USA Aviation, Co C, 159^th Avn Bn, Ops 32/75,MIA- Presumptive finding of death. On a SOG resupply mission in Laos their helicopter (CH-47C) caught fire and exploded in the air, and crashed in a area replete with enemy activity. There were no indications of survivors.

18 Feb 71; Ronald "DOC" Leonard Watson, CPT 0-3 of El Paso, TX; Allen "Baby Jesus"Richard Lloyd, SGT E-5 of St Charles, Minn; USASF, CCN, Da Nang; RT Intruder, Ops 35 and George Phillip Berg, WO-1 of Belford, NJ Air Craft Commander; Gregory Stephen Crandall, WO-1; Gerald Ernest Woods, WO- 1, Pilot; Walter Edward Demsey, Jr, SP/4, Crew Chief of Glendora, NJ; Robert Joseph Engen, SP/4 of Stockton, CA; Walter Edward Lewellen, SP/4 of New Albany, IN; Gary Lee Johnson, PFC E-3, Door Gunner of Malibu, CA A/101US Army Aviation, Comanchero 19, UH-1H #68-15255. MIA-Presumptive finding of death. With less than 2 weeks before the end of US-led teams in the A Shau in Laos . Upon insertion the team encountered the enemy and engaged them, killing two and the remainder dispersed. The team worked their way to an LZ and a Huey was making a STABO rig extraction. All 3 Americans hooked up and as the helicopter lifted off, it was hit. A door gunner cut one of the ropes loose and SSG Sammy Hernandez fell 30-45 feet before the helicopter went off a cliff with the other two Americans still on the ropes. The helicopter crashed and exploded Killing these 13 men. " On 19 Feb, a Special Forces recovery team was inserted at the crash site to search the area. Woods and Berg were found dead in their seats. Johnson's body was found in a tree. One leg of Demsey, the burned CE, was found in the cargo compartment. All remains were prepared for extraction, and the team left to establish a night defensive position. Enroute, the team found the remains of Lloyd and Watson, still on their rope slings, in the trees on the edge of a cliff. Because of the rugged terrain and approaching darkness, the rescue team leader decided to wait until morning to recover these two remains. However, the following morning, the search team came under intense fire, and the team leader requested an emergency extraction, and in so doing left all remains behind." by http://www.a101avn.org/KIA~MIA.html. Hernandez was rescued. (See 19 Feb for continued action). Note: See RT Intruder in the "individual memorial" section. {Filed by SSG Don "Sluggo" Murphy: . In January of 72 I was the covey rider at Phu Bai and Bob Woodham our chase medic asked me if I would look on the ridge in the South end of the Ashau for a ladder that was in the treetops. I did and it was still there. He was involved in the bright light operation for Watson and Lloyd. He said he had put both bodies in bags there. The lines were still hooked to them and let to where the aircraft was crashed. He asked if I would check with MACSOG and mount a recovery mission for those two and the aircrew still in the crash site. I did but the request was denied.} [Doc (the Brain) Watson came to the front gate of CCN one day and asked for an interview. He was or had been in the Phoenix Program. He had a PHD from Stanford. I asked him why he wanted to be a 10. He said it was to help him understand human psychology," why would a person want to lead in such a program." We accepted him and sent him to 10 down at Long Thanh. He also told me that he was an orphan..-BG George Gaspard]
SPECIAL NOTE TO DEMPSEY: DON MURPHY WHO FILED THE NEW INFO THAT HE WENT TO THE AREA OF THE CRASH IN JAN 72 AND THE LADDER WHICH THE ORIGINAL TEAM HAD LEFT WAS STILL THERE, CAN BE CONTACTED BY CALLING HIM FOR MORE DETAILED INFO BEFORE YOU GUYS GO BACK FOR THE RECOVERY MISSION. HE CAN BE CONTACTED VIA EMAIL AT dasmurf@commandnet.net  OR TELEPHONE 270-798-3581.

19 Feb 71; James "Woodstock" Larry Hull, 2LT 0-1 of Lubbock, TX USAF, FAC Pilot, OPS 32/75 and William "Jose" M. Fernandez, SFC E-7, USASF FAC Covey Rider, TF2AE- Kontum (CCC), LT Hull last seen providing air support for a SOG recon team listed as MIA; SFC Fernandez KIA-RR. (Added by Fred Wunderlitch, "Lightning": This mission was a continuation of the action from 18 Feb and before. My team did the bright light on the 0-2 crash site. We were able to pull Jose out, but Woodstock was pinned between the engine and seat. "Your text is a little unclear if it implies that Hull might be MIA, but there is no doubt in my mind that he was KIA). "As always the devil is in the detail and the passage of time has dimmed but certainly not erased the memory of what was a rather hectic period. Frankly, everything went to shit that week on nearly all the operations. I saw Sammy go out with Doc and Lloyd, and Cliff come up when things got tough on that one while other missions were also in trouble. We all suited up as brightlight (rescue/reaction) teams. We were listening to the radios, always an agonizing trial where you feel beyond doing anything about it, and heard of the chopper and then later the covey crash. I was to go after the covey aircraft and picked only three others from my team; my 11 (assistant team leader in SOG jargon) Kloecki, who's status I do not know, and two of our local commandos (SCU). Knowing the terrain I planned to rappel in and we did so from a Huey to a thick forest of tall saplings on the hillside just in Lao. It seemed that the O-2 had gone in as a flat spin and cleared a hole down to the ground. The whole top and wing section was shredded down, exposing the cockpit. There were firefights going on in the East, seemingly about a kilometer away, and a lot of aircraft activity in the area. Both Jose and Woodstock were dead and the crash had broken nearly every bone in their bodies. I literally rolled up poor Jose's legs stuffing him into the body bag. Woodstock was wedged tight in the wreckage, especially as the custom was for the pilot to sit well forward. The O-2 gun sight had taken the top of his head off and he was crushed in the seat between the engine shoving back and the rear fuselage. We could not get him out. An HH-53 was sent to get us. One of my SCU started firing from the perimeter around the wreck site but we could not see the bad guys. The HH-53 PJ even came down to look with us at the wreck but there was no way to get Woodstock out and there was still a lot of action in the area. We were all hoisted up, along with Jose's body. Onboard, I asked the crew chief if we were going over the hill to get the other team, but he said there was another chopper. It turned out that there wasn't but, like I said, it was a less than agreeable day in a week of unpleasantness. I went back to Lao in 91/92 as part of an oil exploration seismic operation for explosive ordnance clearing... We were in the A/O (Area of Operations) as we used to call it, but I was never quite close enough to this particular area to try and check it out. As I've said, I believe that the general action for the RT Intruder bright light was about a kilometer East of the covey crash site. Being fairly mountainous territory, I gather that the chopper healed over down the ridge and could be even further from the extraction site." (Frederick Wunderlich, Dec 99) 

10 Apr 71; Robert N. Fiesler, SGT E-5, USASF, TF2AE (CCC), Recon Mission-KIA

20 Apr 71; Kevin D. Grogan, SGT E-5, USASF, Co C TA2AE (CCC)-KIA

27 Apr 71; Frederick Krupa, CPT 0-3 of Scranton, PA USASF, Training Support Hqs, Tng Advisory Op, MIA-Presumptive finding of death. Version 1: As Krupa was about to insert his Special Commando Unit 2 miles from the Laotian border northwest of Plei Djereng, Vietnam, when the helicopter was about 3 feet from the ground it came under enemy fire. Krupa fell forward with the SCU Company A Commander Ayom grabbed his Krupa’s right shoulder but let go when his (Ayom) hand was struck by a bullet and Krupa fell out of the helicopter. Krupa was last seen lying next to a log sprawled out on his back, not moving or making a sound by crew chief SP/4 Melvin C. Lewis as the helicopter started its ascent. Version 2: Krupa was last seen Krupa was a passenger aboard the helicopter to insert troops onto a LZ. The helicopter was hit by enemy fire and Krupa was observed getting hit in the chest and fall from the aircraft. The helicopter then lifted off without realizing what had happened to Krupa. Upon learning of the incident, the pilot attempted to radio for assistance, but his radio had been hit..

28 Apr 71; Donald F. West. SGM E-9, USASF TF1AE (CCN)-KIA

29 Apr 71; Albert McCoy, Jr. SSG E-6, USASF, TF1AE (CCN)-KIA

10 May 71; Klaus Y. Bingham, SSG E-6 of Wahiawa, Hawaii, James Martin Luttrell, SSG E-6 of Fayetteville, NC; and Lewis Clark Walton, SSG E-6 of Cranston, RI USASF, Recon Tm Asp, TF1AE (CCN), Da Nang, MIA- Presumptive finding of death. RT Asp was inserted 12 miles East of Laos in the A Shau Valley (Quang Nam Province) on 3 May without ground fire or radio transmission and was never seen heard from again.. On 4 May the area was searched by FAC without success. Two pilots reported seeing a mirror and panel signals on 5 May about 50 meters from the LZ and the FAC again searched the area and attempted to establish radio contact, the FAC saw two persons wearing dark green fatigues locating signal panels. Helicopters were launched but could not perform an extraction due to adverse weather. The FAC remained on station until 5 PM without making communication contact with the team. May 6 found the weather again prohibited an extraction attempt and May 7 found extraction or insertion of a search team an impossibility due to enemy fire. Adverse weather prevented insertion until 14 May. On May 14 the search team was inserted without success of locating RT Asp. (Per Cpt "Garry" George Robb, at the time of his departure as the 1-0, Rt Asp, in Nov 70, the team consisted of 3 ex-NVA and 3 Vietnames; however, the team had been shot up before the 3 May loss, thus, the exact ethnic make up of the team is unknown) {Filed By Sgt Don "Sluggo" Murphy regarding the attempted location and extraction of the 3 Americans: In mid April, 1971 two recon teams were joined to make one large raid force with a mission of hitting targets developed by the recon teams. We would launch out of MLT-1 at Phu Bai. This team was to remain at the launch site for 30 days. The two teams were Connecticut and Intruder.  SSG Andre Smith was one zero of Connecticut and SSG Eldon Bargewell had Intruder. The combined effort would field a total of 24 men. Connecticut was selected as the force's name with SSG Andree Smith as one zero and Eldon as one one. Connecticut was a Chinese Nung team and Intruder was Montagnard. RT Connecticut arrived at MLT-1 shortly before noon on 3 May 71, we checked in and went to lunch. Asp had been inserted that morning into the AO cleanly and without incident. The covey got a Team OK. (I do not know the name of the Covey Rider who inserted them) SFC Keith Kinkaid came into the mess hall and alerted us that he would be flying covey and left for his aircraft. Shortly after SSG Andree was called to the TOC and it was decided that we would go in (for RT Asp) instead of the bright light team since we had a much larger force. After a briefing on what we would do on the ground, we launched. Four slicks were loaded with six men each, we had two spare slicks on one of which was our chase medic SSG Bob Woodham. We had also four cobra gunships. I was in the lead slick with Andree Smith, Phun An Sang (Nung Interpreter), One other Nung, Sgt Mudhole Waters and one Montagnard. We would be inserting on Asp';s primary LZ. To approach the LZ we had to fly up a valley with high ridges on left and right. Just prior to short final we began taking effective fire from the ridges and the LZ. NVA were in the open firing at us and we all were returning fire. Andree aborted the mission. We took fire until we cleared the ridges passing over the LZ. I observed no bodies on the LZ but plenty of NVA. We returned to Danang since it was closer to inspect the slicks for battle damage. After refueling, we returned to Phu Bai to make another attempt this time on Asp's alternate LZ but bad weather precluded this. Now a large storm hit the area and no aircraft could be launched. Walton, Bingham, and Luttrell were officially listed as MIA. The weather finally cleared on the 11th. We would raid a farming area close to the area where Asp was lost with hopes of capturing a PW who would possibly enlighten us as to Asp's fate. The insert went in cleanly and we began recon by fire. After an hour of movement we stopped near the river by an animal fence. We had one heat casualty (Sgt Eaton) . Andree called for extract, to this point we had no contact with the enemy. As the birds came in and picked up the team. Sgt Waters, Myself and two indig (tailgunners) would cover fro the fence line. During the extract we could hear screaming, the cobras were firing on a large NVA force crossing the river coming at us. We laid down Car15 and 40mm fire on them as they approached. Andree fired his RPG 4 and killed 5 just as the four of us raced for the slick. On extract we were hit in the tailboom by a 23mm, which only got off one burst, the cobras got him. Cobras claimed 37 killed. In my opinion of what happened. The team hit the LZ but was ambushed during movement. What the Viets said is probably true they left the bodies where they lay) (Filed by BG Bargewell: first one of the covey riders saw 2 people on the LZ the day before we eventually went into on the last day and that they had put a red panel in the middle of the LZ--that's why we went in to that LZ. we figured it was put there to lure us in but we went anyway cause we had nothing else to go on. also months later there was a NVA captured-by who I cant remember- that supposedly said something to the effect that the team had walked into a small jungle village near their insert LZ and were ambushed and all US were killed. Frankly I don't know if this was ever verified but it was passed to us as Intel.- the most exciting thing that happened to me on that mission was when Andre, that crazy SOB, fired the RPG the first time--he turned 90 degrees quickly and fired and I was standing about 6 ft behind him at that point and I thought Id been hit from all the back blast--got my heart rate up a few mil anyway and blew me down on the ground--unhurt except for my ego from not paying attention to what he was up to---my yards thought it was funny anyway.) NOTE: THIS IS THE SECOND TIME ST/RT ASP WAS LOST. ON 28 MAR 68, ST ASP WAS LOST THE FIRST TIME.

17 May 71; Dale Allen Pearce, WO-1 of Mentor, OH; David Pecor Soyland, WO-1 of Rapid City, SD, and Two Door Gunners (Names and ranks unknown) UH-IH helicopter aircrew, Ops 32/75 Three bodies were recovered and one is listed as MIA. These men were lost when their helicopter was shot down while attempting an extraction of a recon team.

18 May 71; Danny Day Entrican, 1LT 0-2 of Brookhaven, Mississippi and Dale W Dehnke, SSG E-6, Gary L. Hollingsworth, SP/5, USASF, TF1AE (CCN), RT Alaska, 0ps32 Lt Entrican MIA-Presumptive finding of death. SSG Dehnke and the scout was KIA-RR. RT Alaska was inserted in the Da Krong Valley on 15 May and the team was attacked by an enemy force three days later 1 mile from the Laos boarder. Two surviving commandos, Truong Mihn Long and interpreter Trong Th Ha reported they rolled downhill after a hostile search party detected them hiding in a bush, at which point Entrican was apparently wounded and yelled at them to move out. This action resulted in the separation of the team members. Lt Entrican was last seen wounded, but alive and attempting to evade the enemy. A search was initiated but all attempts were unsuccessful. One Special Commando Scout (name unknown) was killed while performing Body Recovery of the downed helicopter and for SSG Dehnke’s remains.

20 May 71; Scott H. Newport, CPT 0-3, TF3AE (CCS), Ban Me Thout, Ops 35 Killed while participating in SOG activities, RR

05 Jun 71; John Robert Jones, SGT E-5, USASF, TF1AE (CCN), Training Advisory Op, Da Nang, KIA. Jones was performing defense duties of a remote radio relay site "Hickory Hill" ( Hill 950) located deep in enemy held territory at Khe Sanh when attacked by a battalion size enemy force. The site is normally defended by two Americans and about 40 Indigenous soldiers. However, there were 27 Americans and 67 SCU, which includes a squad from L Co, 75^th Rangers defending the site this date. Evacuation started but due to adverse weather conditions, the evacuation was halted leaving SGT Jones and Jon Cavaiani, SSG E-6, with about 20 indigenous soldiers who fought on through the night SGT Jones was KIA- and his body not recovered and SSG Cavaiani was captured and untimely released in 1973. SSG Cavainai was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously for his action as he was originally thought to have been killed in action.

22 Jun 71; Madison Alexander Strohlein, SGT E-5 of Philadelphia, PA, USASF TF1AE (CCN), Da Nang, Ops 35 MIA. Strohlein was inserted behind enemy lines via parachute (HALO) into the Ta Ko area during a night recon mission with SGM William "Billy" Waugh and SFC James O. Bath who was injured was on the jump. Five hours later he requested medical evacuation then after four more hours he reported enemy activity/movement all around him. A WACO City recovery team was inserted on 23 Jun could not locate SGT Strohlein, however, his weapon, radio, and map was found. Indications are Strohlein was captured, although the North Vietnamese denies any knowledge. Please see: http://www.a101avn.org/SOG.htm  which is a letter written by Richard A Bittle, Crew Chief on one of the birds that went in to recover the team and tells of the efforts to find Strohlein, also see "SOG HALO EXTRACTION" 

26 Jun 71; Sebastian E. Deluca, MSG E-8, SOG, Ops 80, NCOIC-Officially Listed as a Death Non Hostile, There’s more to this incident, which indicates he was Killed in Action for his country and fellow Americans by a hostile force. Deluca’s knowledge regarding missing Americans combined with the bureaucracy decisions prevent effective recovery of the Americans, lead him to take a bold, heroic, but unwise initiative to act on his own that resulted in his death in Laos in an effort to secure the release of some Americans.

06 Jul 71; Daniel W. Thomas, 1LT 0-2, Pilot, Covey, 23^rd Tactical Aerial Surveillance Squadron, tail # 634, USAF Ops 32/75 and Donald Gene "Butch" Carr, CPT 0-3 of San Antonio, TX, USASF, Special Mission Advisory Op, Deputy Cmdr MLT-3 (CCN), NKP, MIA-Presumptive finding of death. While performing an orientation flight in an OV-10 aircraft over Laos (15 miles inside Laos west of Ben Het) for newly assigned Cpt Carr made a radio contact reporting they were over their target area but due to adverse weather conditions, could not observe the ground. That was the last radio transmission and have not been heard from since. Search and rescue efforts were made without success.

11 Jul 71; Team Pike Hill, (names unknown), Monkey Mountain FOB, Camp Black Rock, Da Nang, Ops 36, MIA. An all Cambodian soldier team was inserted into "Zone Alpha" in Cambodia and after making a scheduled radio contact on July 2^nd, the entire team was never heard from again.

11 Jul thru 24 Aug 71; Three Special Commando scouts KIA in the PHU DUNG operational area.

05 Aug 71; One American FAC and one Vietnamese Observer (names unknown) TF3AE (CCS), Ban Me Thuot, flying visual Recon over Cambodia came under intense enemy fire and crashed. KIA-RR

07 Aug 71; Loren "Festus" D. Hagen, 1Lt 0-2, Medal of Honor Winner and Oran L. Bingham, SGT E-5 and Bruce A. Berg, TF1AE (CCN), RT Kansas performing Recon deep in enemy held territory KIA-RR In a battle with odds of 107 to 1, RT Kansas of 14 commandos (six Americans and eight SCU) faced a formidable foe of an entire regiment, supported by a second regiment. One NVA regiment was able to overrun the Special Forces’ Kham Duc camp in 1968 and it only took one third of a regiment to completely overrun the Special forces camp at Lang Vei in one night. Here RT Kansas equipped with only what they had on their backs, CAR 15's, grenade launchers and one M-60 machine gun faced an onslaught greater than the men at the Alamo. Clearly, RT Kansas was an unwanted guest and the NVA intended to remove the team without delay. The team had taken up a position on a small hill, spent the night, receiving probing activities during the night, as dawn approached, trucks began to arrive filled with NVA. The onslaught came with a single, well placed RPG round, which smashed into Berg’s bunker exploding, collapsing it. This was the signal for the assault. Lt Hagen went to check Berg but was cut down in the massive enemy fire and died. Bingham left his bunker to reposition the claymores and died within six feet of his position with a bullet striking him in the head. A SCU jumped up and was cut down immediately. SGT Bill Queen lay wounded, SGT Tony Anderson having sustained multiple wound, but fighting and commanding the situation, and SGT William Rimondi unwounded and fighting. The enemy came in great numbers, so close rolling over the hill, they were inches from the end of the CAR 15 muzzles. Then air support arrived with massive fire power which broke the enemy’s attack and the enemy fled for cover. By this time Rimondi was suffered multiple wounds. Hueys arrived and the remaining team members and some of the teams dead were recover. Three hours later, SGT Anderson, although wounded, returned with the bright light team and recovered the dead. Berg’s remains were not located. Three Americans and three SCU died in this action with a confirmed 185 NVA dead, a kill ratio of 31:1.

13 Aug 71; Mark H. Eaton, SGT E-5, USASF, Recon, TFlAE (CCN)-KIA

? Aug 71; ARVN Tm/Asst Tm Ldrs and Five Special Commando Scouts (Names and ranks unknown) MIA

? Aug 71; Five Special Commando scouts KIA and one Scout MIA (names unknown) performing Spike Team duties in the Demilitarized Zone.

14 Sep 71; Heinz K. Roesch, CPT 0-3 and Don R. Gilbreth, MSG E-8, TF1AE (CCN), Da Nang, Ops 35 Killed while riding a jeep which hit a mine outside the compound KIA-RR

? Oct 71; Two Special Commando Scouts (Names unknown) KIA in base area 702

11 Oct 71; Audley "Audie" D. Mills, SFC E-7, USASF, TFlAE (CCN), Da Nang, Ops 35 KIA-RR He was killed when his six man recon team made contact with an enemy force while performing Recon in South Vietnam. He called for assistance and a "Prairie Fire" emergency, but before being extracted, he was killed. SOG’s final death due to ground operations.

? Oct 71; Two Special Commando Scouts (names unknown) MIA.

? Oct 71; Five Special Commando Scouts (names unknown) KIA

29 Oct 71; Gene W. Stockman, SFC E-7, USASF, TF1AF (CCN), Died as a result of a vehicle accident (?)

? Nov 71; Special Commando Scout (Name unknown) MIA after a fire fight with the enemy

? Nov 71; Earth Angel Team Members (Name and Number unknown) failed to return after being trapped in an enemy ambush MIA-Bodies not recovered

? Dec 71; Pilot, 0-1G aircraft and Photographer (Names unknown) MACSOG 20, Intel Div, Flying a photo recon mission the aircraft was shot down. KIA-RR

12 Dec 71; Benard J. Moran, Jr., MSG E-8, USASF, SOG, Ops 20, NCOIC-KIA

19 Dec 71; Peter Charles Forame, 2LT 0 1 and Thomas William Skiles, WO- 1 MACVSOG, MACV, Saigon, MIA. These men were lost in Cambodia while flying a SOG mission.