14 Aug 2002 Jim was the boy next door, literally, and my first kiss so I remember you always. From a friend, Donna Stephenson fairbanks101@yahoo.com

 

The Mission On 23 July 1968, A Troop, 3rd Squadron, 17th Cavalry, was conducting a troop insertion mission in Long An Province east of Tan An, near the coast. A scout helicopter (OH-6A tail number 65-12985, crewed by 1LT Douglas D. Chaney and SP5 Francis D. Johnson) went down. The lift platoon command and control ship (UH-1H tail number 66-16060), under the command of Chief Warrant Officer James D. Smith, landed under heavy fire. CW2 Smith left his aircraft to go to the aid of the downed aircrew. After Smith left his aircraft, the UH-1H continued to receive fire. Crew chief SP4 Bruce R. Wenban was mortally wounded, and the UH-1H copilot was forced to lift off in order to save his aircraft and remaining crewmembers. An eye-witness in another UH-1H reported that "The crew of another aircraft and I repeatedly tried to land and get them, but we were driven off by small arms fire. Chaney was found dead in the cockpit, probably shot just before or after landing. I clearly saw the other pilot Smith from the C&C Huey outside the ship, behind a rice paddy dike away from the source of ground fire. I thought he would be okay until the infantry reached him a little while later, since we could cover all the open area near him. I was wrong - he had been shot dead when reached, all his .38 pistol ammunition expended." Charles E. "Chuck" Oualline, jan@texas.net Taken from the VHPA report on 65-12985 Four men died in the incident - 1LT Chaney and SP5 Johnson aboard the OH-6A and CW2 Smith and SP4 Wenban aboard the UH-1H.

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