Richard Lee Russell
First Lieutenant
345TH TAC ALFT SQDN, 374TH TAC ALFT WING, 13TH AF United States Air Force Snyder, Texas November 06, 1946 to April 26, 1972 RICHARD L RUSSELL is on the Wall at Panel W1, Line 7 |
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Richard Lee Russell was a 1965 graduate of Snyder High School in Snyder, Texas. He was married. He was lost while serving as a navigator on a C-130E. The aircraft went down near An Loc, South Vietnam. Remains of one crewman were found and identified in 1975. Another crewman's remains were identified in 1998. Captain Russell's remains have not been located. He is remembered by the Permian Basin Vietnam Veterans' Memorial in Midland, Texas.
From a PBVVM representative, |
My name is John A Burke. I was Rich's hard crew copilot during the months of February, March and April 1972. I would have been on his final flight if not for an illness that left me back at CCK that day. Rich was a fine navigator, a great person. I escorted his wife and young daughter back to Texas. I have thought of him many times since, and visited the Wall in Washington. He was truly a heroic American.
From a fellow crew member, |
A Note from The Virtual WallOn 31 May 1971, the 374th Tactical Airlift Wing replaced the 314th TAW at Ching Chuang Kang Airbase, Taiwan, inheriting a heavy commitment in support of operations in Southeast Asia. The 374th provided temporary duty augmentation to the in-country C-130 forces, with crews and aircraft alternating between three-week deployments in-country and brief returns to Taiwan for major maintenance.On 26 April 1972, a 345th Tac Alft Sqdn aircrew on temporary duty with Det 1, 345th Tactical Airlift Squadron, at Tan Son Nhut Airbase outside Saigon was tasked with a night resupply drop to ARVN troops trapped in the besieged city of An Loc, Binh Long Province, a provincial capitol about 65 miles northwest of Saigon. An Loc had been under siege by North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces off and on since early April. At 0412 hours, Major Amesbury was given clearance by the on-site Forward Air Controller (FAC) to initiate their supply drop. As the C-130E (serial 64-0508) made its pass over Anh Loc at a very low altitude, the aircraft was struck by enemy fire and crashed into the countryside approximately 1 mile southwest of the city. An aerial and electronic search of the area commenced immediately, but a ground search of the crash site was impractical due to the intense enemy presence in the area. No emergency beepers were heard and no parachutes seen. When the search efforts were terminated, the six men were listed as Killed in Action/Body Not Recovered:
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