Frank Walter Bengtson
First Lieutenant
A TRP, 1ST SQDN, 9TH CAVALRY, 1ST CAV DIV, USARV Army of the United States Millbury, Massachusetts June 12, 1949 to May 07, 1971 FRANK W BENGTSON is on the Wall at Panel W3, Line 25 |
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1LT FRANK WALTER BENGTSON
1LT FRANK WALTER BENGTSON
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I wanted to stop by before Memorial Day to remember an old friend from Apache Troop, 1/9th and pay tribute to this young hero. He was a great scout pilot. I served as his observer/air crewman on his OH-6 helicopter with A Troop, 1/9th Air Cavalry. We flew pink teams out of Tay Ninh to the north and east along the Cambodian border, and west into Cambodia to the Chup Rubber Plantation and the Mekong River. I always enjoyed spending time with Lt. Frank Walter Bengtson, either on the ground in Tay Ninh or anywhere in the air. On May 7, 1971, he was shot down in Cambodia near the Chup Rubber Plantation. I am sure that he has been missed by a great number of his friends. I will think of him and the many others Cavalry warriors who made that ultimate sacrifice with thanks for their service. In the future, we will all meet again at Fiddler's Green. Fiddler's Green is the happy land imagined by cavalryman where there is perpetual mirth, a fiddle that never stops playing and dancers who never tire. It was featured in old English legend:
It is also described in a ballad written anonymously for the US Cavalry and published in a 1923 US Cavalry Manual. It is still used in modern cavalry units to memorialize the deceased:
"In a shady meadow green, Rest well in the Mighty Hands of God, Frank Walter Bengston, and know that you will never be forgotten.
From a comrade, |
A Note from The Virtual WallThree men from A Troop, 1/9th Cavalry, were killed when OH-6A tail number 67-16679 was shot down:
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