19 Jul 1999 REMEMBERED by "Big D" sparkgap@btr.quik.com

 

07 March 2005 The photo and following article is taken from The Philadelphia Daily News, special supplement entitled 'SIX HUNDRED AND THIRTY,' October 26, 1987. VAN J. JOYCE - First Lieutenant Joyce entered the Army in January 1968, after studying at the University of Hawaii in Honolulu. The pilot, who flew both helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft, was assigned to Troop C of the 1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile). He died in Vietnam on May 7, 1970, at the age of 24. The photo was taken while Joyce was a student at the Army and Navy Academy, Carlsbad, California. From a native Philadelphian and Marine, Jim McIlhenney christianamacks@comcast.net

 

A Note from The Virtual Wall On 12 March 1971 a "Pink Team" from C Troop, 1/9th Cavalry, was running an armed recon mission in Cambodia when one of the team's AH-1G Cobras (tail number 68-15062) was hit by .51 caliber antiaircraft fire. The crews of the other two aircraft (an OH-6 LOACH and a second Cobra) watched helplessly as the rotor mast detached from 68-15062 and the Cobra plunged to a flaming crash. Neither of the Cobra's crewmen survived the crash: 1LT Van J. Joyce, Philadelphia, PA, pilot CPT Joel T. Hageman, Wichita, KS, copilot 1LT Joyce is buried in Site 276E, Section D, of the Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery, San Diego, California.

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