Posted on VVMF.ORG on Nov 7, 2020
POSTED BY: WKILLIAN@SMJUHSD.ORG

FINAL MISSION OF SP4 RICK S. BROWN

Landing Zone Uplift was a 1st Cavalry Division base on Highway QL-1, approximately five miles north of Phu My in Binh Dịnh Province, RVN. In early 1971, LZ Uplift maintained a LRRP Platoon (Long-Range Reconnaissance Patrol) employed by E Company, 1st Battalion, 503rd Infantry, 173rd Airborne Brigade. The “Lurp” platoon containing three six-man teams that were well-armed and patrolled deep into enemy held territory. The missions generally followed intelligence reports generated by the Battalion S-2 (Intelligence) and S-3 (Operations) officers. Teams were mostly inserted by helicopter into the target area; however, many times they would walk off the base if the mission was into an adjacent area. Frequently, they would be accompanied by a Kit Carson scouts, former Viet Cong defectors who served as intelligence scouts for American infantry units. Vital communications were maintained with Forward Air Control fixed-wing aircraft. They coordinated close air support for immediate extraction if a team was compromised or had completed their mission. In early January 1971, a six-man team including a Kit Carson scout walked off LZ Uplift for a three-day mission. On January 7, 1971, while returning to Uplift, the radioman, SP4 Richard E. Tabor, transmitted that the team was “in contact.” No other transmissions were heard. Helicopter gunships were scrambled and soon reported seeing five bodies on a road. When an American line unit reached the team, all were dead with bullet wounds to the head. Their Kit Carson was not with them. The lost team members included Tabor, team leader SSG Stephen E. Boots, SP4 Rick S. Brown, SP4 Gerald W. Hill, and PFC Russel C. Nelson. All the Americans’ weapons were missing, and their rucksacks had been rifled through. The other E Company teams were devastated by the loss and were suspicious that the missing Kit Carson may have somehow compromised the team. Several days later, he appeared on another U.S. firebase where he was interrogated, then relocated for his own safety. E Company had little time to grieve as more missions needed to be completed, and the team was quickly replaced. There were two posthumous promotions in the wake of the loss: Brown was promoted to Sergeant and Nelson to Corporal. Several days after the incident, a memorial service was conducted at Uplift for the fallen team members by the Battalion chaplain. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org, and information provided by Richard Coogan (July 2020)]

Brown, Rick Samuel, SGT