November 6, 1997 I have begun my search for my father for a number of reasons. Probably the biggest is because I now have two children myself. I am just now beginning to realize the huge gap in my life that only a father can fill. I thank God continually that my children have their Daddy. Yet my fear is that that is too good to last until they are adults. I have always wondered why I never knew anyone who also lost a family member to Vietnam. It has been a lonely feeling. I am now several years older than my father was and I would somehow like to know who he was as a young adult. My mother is a wonderful, nurturing mother, who did her best to give me a sense of who my Dad was. I feel that I want to know more about him as a soldier, a pilot and a man. I do however know that he loved his family deeply and I take great comfort in that knowledge. If you knew Allen, please contact me. Samantha kevandsam@e346.com

 

A Note from The Virtual Wall On the morning of 24 Nov 1969 eight Hueys from the 118th Assault Helicopter Company departed Spartan Heliport enroute Xuan Loc to support an air assault by elements of the 199th Infantry Brigade. As the flight passed north of Plantation Airfield, about 6 kilometers east-northeast of Bien Hoa, the number two aircraft's main rotor struck that of the lead aircraft. The rotor strike proved catastrophic for UH-1D tail number 65-12863; its rotor and transmission separated from the aircraft and it crashed and burned. Although the only passenger aboard leaped from the aircraft immediately before ground impact, four aircrewmen were killed in the incident: WO Allen D. Perkins, West Linn, OR, pilot; WO Charles J. Armstrong, Lutherville, MD, copilot; SP4 Raul R. Barrera, Newark, CA, crew chief; and SP4 Michael F. Gonzales, Glenwood Springs, CO, gunner. The pilot of the second Huey was able to retain marginal control of his aircraft and crash-landed without significant injury to the crew.

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