Notes from The Virtual Wall

On 15 March 1968 elements of the 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, were operating in "Happy Valley", a dozen miles southwest of Danang. The area was a hotbed of NVA and VC activity and, as the name implies, is characterized by jungle-covered mountains with a valley between them. Over a four-day period - 15 to 18 March - the Battalion lost 17 Marines and one sailor to enemy action:

15 March:
- LCpl Douglas R. Mohrmann, Buzzards Bay, MA
- LCpl Tommy L. Stephens, Kennewick, WA (WIA 3/15; DoW 03/17/1968)
16 March:
- Pfc Edward J. Ariaz, Chicago, IL
- Pfc Kenneth R. Wells, Portsmouth, VA
17 March:
- 2ndLt George W. Coleman, Wildwood Crest, NJ (Silver Star)
- Cpl John Foldvary, Lincoln Park, MI
- Cpl John J. Harris, Iola, KS
- Cpl David L. Lipscomb, Richmond, VA
- HN George F. Myrick, Los Angeles, CA (Corpsman, H&S w/ D/1/7) (Bronze Star "V")
- Pfc Robert B. Cannon, Bellbrook, OH
- Pfc Carl E. Garza, Refugio, TX
- Pfc Donald C. McNac, Cantonment, FL
- Pfc David H. Mealy, Pittsburgh, PA
- Pfc Larry J. Rodgers, Ranger, TX (Silver Star)
- Pfc Allen P. Sheehan, Muttontown, NY
- Pfc James Witt, Bayonne, NJ
18 March:
- LCpl Billy R. Bowen, Bonham, TX
- Pfc Sydney Parks, Columbus, OH

Three of the men - Cpl John Harris, Hospitalman George Myrick, and Pfc David Mealy - were killed when CH-46A BuNo 150274 was shot down. The engagement was on a mountainside, and the only way the CH-46s could get in to evacuate the wounded was to back into a shelf above a steep drop-off into the valley below. 150274 's pilot did just that, lowered the 46's rear ramp, and hovered with his back landing gear on the ground and the remainder of the fuselage hanging out over the drop-off. While in that position the aircraft, with a crew of four and 15 medevacs already aboard, was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade. The pilot took his burning aircraft toward the valley floor, but when it impacted the aircraft rolled on its side and burned, its on-board munitions cooking off.

An accompanying helo landed alongside, and its crew - together with the less-injured men from the 46 - pulled everyone from the helo before it exploded. While the squadron's Command Chronology says that 9 of the 15 medevacs died in the crash the casualty database shows only three - surely a tribute to the few men who went time and again into the burning fuselage to aid those who could not help themselves out of the aircraft.

Myrick, George Franklin, HN