Arthur John Abramoff

USAF  Arthur J. Abramoff, USAF, Pilot and 1st Lt. KIA, 20-Jan. 1967, South Vietnam.

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The 24th Special Tactical Zone (24 STZ) comprised Pleiku and Kontum provinces (in II Corps), athwart the tri-border area of South Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. Our U.S. Air Force and Army units supported South Vietnamese forces in opposing both local Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army infiltration via the Ho Chi Minh Trail to our west. Art Abramoff joined us at Kontum, capital city of the largest province in South Vietnam, in November 1966. His Forward Air Controller (FAC) callsign was Cagey 86.

On his last mission, Art was marking a target for an air strike in the Dak Na valley (north of Dak To) when he was hit by ground fire and crashed. A lot of people converged on the area to attempt rescue. A Vietnamese CH-34 helicopter was driven off by ground fire. 1st Lt E. DeVere Henderson took over as FAC-on-the-scene, Lt Cols Gibson and Bradbury (in another O-1) flew backup, and Capt Lee Goettsche (in our last remaining O-1) controlled air strikes in an adjacent area; CPT Kobylarz (in an Army O-1) flew high to provide radio relay; I was in our FAC radio shack back at our military compound, coordinating fighter support with headquarters at Pleiku.

An Army UH-1 "Huey" helicopter, Black Cat 606 (piloted by LT "Hank" Rost and WO-1 Tom Woehl), picked up Art's injured Army observer (1LT G. D. Hull), who was medevacked to Pleiku (and soon back to the U.S.). Another "Huey", Mardi Gras 730 (piloted by CPT Robert "Tom" Hooker and WO-1 Ken Wilson), carried FAC Maj Vance Leuthold to the crashed O-1G, where he confirmed Art was dead. An Air Force H-43 "Dust Off" rescue chopper (supported by gunships) retrieved Art's body later that day.

The above summary combines recollections primarily from DeVere Henderson, three of the four named Army "Huey" pilots (located during the past few years), the combat journal of Vance Leuthold (d. 1994), plus my own letters home at the time.

January 20th of 1967 was the saddest day of my Vietnam tour. I commemorated Art's tragic loss and its aftermath in a 1999 ballad entitled "A Death in the Dak Na Valley." When our memorial to the (now) 220 FACs KIA in the Southeast Asia War was dedicated at Hurlburt Air Force Base, Florida, at our first Slow FACs' Reunion in September 2000, "Arthur J. Abramoff" was the first name read.

From a fellow Forward Air Controller,
Jonathan Myer
O-1 "Bird Dog" FAC, Cagey 82 (and Covey 75)
Kontum Province (and the DMZ)
April 1966 thru February 1967
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Lt Art Abramoff;

Last Rank
First Lieutenant Last Primary AFSC/MOS
1115A-Pilot Last Unit
1966-1967, 1115A, Tactical Control Units/504th Tactical Air Control Group Service Years
1963 - 1967

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State of Birth
New Jersey   Year of Birth
1941 Home Town
Margate Last Address
Margate Casualty Date
Jan 20, 1967   Cause
Hostile, Died Reason
Air Loss, Crash - Land Location
Kontum Conflict
Vietnam War Location of Interment
Not Specified