30 Mar 2004 REMEMBERED by a fellow Washington Parish VN Veteran 1Lt Buddy Jenkins bjenks@i-55.com

 

A Note from The Virtual Wall On 10 March 1971 an OH-6A helicopter (tail number 67-16412) from A Troop, 1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry, was conducting a visual reconnaissance mission in Kracheh Province, Cambodia. The aircraft was crewed by WO1 Craig J. Houser, pilot; SP4 Robert T. Kiser, crew chief; and Sgt Curtis R. Smoot, door gunner. As the aircraft made a low pass over a suspected enemy position it was hit by enemy fire and crashed in a stream. A mixed US/ARVN search team was inserted and was able to recover SP4 Kiser's body before being extracted but found no signs of WO Houser or Sgt Smoot. Three days later WO Houser made contact with friendly forces. During his debrief WO Houser stated that he had not seen Sgt Smoot after the crash. Sergeant Smoot was classed as Missing in Action and remained in that status, being promoted twice, before the Secretary of the Army approved a Presumptive Finding of Death on 30 Oct 1978, changing his status to Died while Missing/Body not Recovered. As of 30 March 2004 Sergeant First Class Smoot's remains have not been repatriated.

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