The short month of February cost seven of our Michigan service personnel their lives during the Vietnam War; all of them were lost while flying. As The War Memorial commemorates the Vietnam War in 2025, today we are looking at and for those who are still Missing in Action from our state.

On February 18, 1969, a KA-3B Skywarrior (bureau number 138943, call sign "Tenpin 017") with a crew of three U.S. Navy personnel took off from the aircraft carrier USS Coral Sea on a tanker mission over the Gulf of Tonkin (North Vietnam). Onboard were navigator AMS1 Stanley Milton Jerome, 31, of Detroit; pilot LCDR Rodney Max Chapman, 33, of Alpena; and CA crew member/navigator, AO1 Eddie Ray Schimmels, 29. The three were from Heavy Attack Squadron 10 (VAH-10), Carrier Air Wing 15 (CVW-15), USS Coral Sea (CVA-43), Task Force 77 (TF-77), 7th Fleet. While communicating on its return approach to the carrier, the Skywarrior disappeared suddenly from radar and crashed into the Gulf in the vicinity of (GC) 48Q YE 434 856. An extensive search of the area found no sign of the aircraft or its crew both immediately after the crash or the following day; the “Tenpin 017” men remain Unaccounted For.

Chapman had been a flier for eleven years and in the Navy for thirteen. He left behind his wife, Dorothy and daughter, Audrey at their base home in Oak Harbor, WA; AMS1 Jerome and AO1 Schimmels were single. All three are memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (“Punchbowl”), and their names are inscribed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, DC. AO1 Schimmels also has a memorial cenotaph at Oakwood Memorial Cemetery in Oakwood, OK next to where his parents lie.

Based on all information available the three crewmen were categorized by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) as Non-recoverable.

AMS1 Jerome, LCDR Chapman (both back row, left), and AO1 Shimmels (front left) with two unidentified men

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On February 5, 1971, an AH-1G Cobra helicopter (tail number 66-15340) with two U.S. Army members took part in an extraction mission near Khe Sanh, Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam. The Cobra’s pilot, 19-year-old WO Carl Mitchell Wood of CO and his co-pilot, WO1 James Lee Paul, 22, of Koester Street in Riverview, MI, were members of Troop D, 3rd Squadron, 5th Cavalry Regiment, 5th Infantry Division (Mechanized). Shortly after takeoff, the Cobra entered heavy cloud cover and, while climbing for better visibility, impacted a mountainside and exploded. Aircraft accompanying the Cobra immediately began a visual search of the area and located the crash site at the base of Hill 1015. Investigation of the crash site recovered the remains of the pilot, CO Wood; he was buried at Fort Logan National Cemetery in Denver, CO. However, WO Paul’s remains could not be found and he was marked as Unaccounted For.

WO1 Paul is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. His name is inscribed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, DC. and his memorial cenotaph is in Arlington National Cemetery.

WO1 James L. Paul’s cenotaph in Arlington

Based on all information available, DPAA assessed WO1 James Lee Paul to be in the analytical category of Non-recoverable.

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Last September, a group that should have received special government recognition decades ago finally did when the Congressional Gold Medal Act, S.2825 (118th) was signed by President Joe Biden. These were the Vietnam War U.S. Army personnel responsible for the emergency aeromedical casualty evacuation from the combat zone. Officially they were called CASEVAC, but they were more commonly known as Dustoff crews. Units were identified by their air ambulance call signs “Dust Off” then their assigned number.

The typical four-member Dustoff crews that manned these emergency evacuation flights frequently skewed very young, in their teens or early 20s. They knew they would be heavily fired upon while landing or rappelling down from their helicopters – usually “Hueys” - to get to the wounded, then again while boarding them for evacuation to camp hospitals. They had to be absolutely fearless as they faced a 1-in-3 chance each mission of themselves being killed.

On February 12, 1968, a Bell UH-1H Iroquois (tail number 66-17027, call sign “Dust Off 90”) took off from Ban Me Thuot, South Vietnam on a nighttime emergency evacuation mission to Gia Nghia Special Forces Camp. Aboard were the lanky 20-year-old crew chief, U.S. Army SFC Wade Lawrence Groth from Greenville, MI; SSG Harry Willis Brown, 24, medic, SC; CW3 Alan Wendell Gunn, 19, pilot, TX; and aircraft commander CPT Jerry Lee Roe, 25, TX.

They were all members of the 50th Medical Detachment, 43rd Medical Group, 44th Medical Brigade. The aircraft failed to reach its destination, and an extensive search was initiated, but search and rescue teams were unable to locate the Huey. The entire “Dustoff 90” crew remain Unaccounted For.

SFC Wade Lawrence Groth and the other three men are memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific and on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, DC. His memorial cenotaph is at the Groth family plot at River Ridge Cemetery in Belding, MI.

Based on all information available, DPAA assessed all four missing crew members of the “Dust Off 90” to be in the analytical category of Active Pursuit.

U.S. Army Dustoff Memorial, Fort Sam Huston, TX

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U.S. Navy LT Robert Clarence Marvin, 27, from Dexter, MI, served with Attack Squadron 115 aboard the USS Hancock (CVA 19). On  February 14, 1967, LT Marvin piloted a single-seat A1-H Skyraider aircraft (bureau number 139805, call sign "Arab 511") that launched from the Hancock on a combat mission over North Vietnam. Ten minutes later, he radioed that he was rapidly losing oil pressure and would return to the ship. Shortly he radioed again that he would have to immediately ditch the aircraft in the Gulf of Tonkin. This was the last communication from LT Marvin; he was not seen or heard from again. His wife, Mary, was notified of his loss at their on-base home on Crusader Avenue at Lemoore NAS. 58 years later he remains Unaccounted For.

Lieutenant Marvin is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific and his name is inscribed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, DC. His cenotaph is at Rock Island National Cemetery, Rock Island, IL.

Based on all information available, DPAA assessed LT Marvin’s case to be in the category of Non-recoverable.

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U.S. Army Specialist 4 Arthur Wright, 31, of Lansing served in Battery A, 1st Battalion, 44th Artillery Group. On February 21, 1967, he was manning a listening post at the gate of a U.S. Marine Corps combat base in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, with two other soldiers. During his shift, SP4 Wright told his two companions that he was going out to check the perimeter wire for intrusions, and that if he did not return by a certain point to report him to the Battery A orderly room (administrative office). He then left his post and proceeded forward, where he told a crew from Battery B that he was going to check the wire and not to shoot. SP4 Wright headed for the wire and was not seen again. Subsequent searches for him or his remains were unsuccessful.

Specialist 4 Wright is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific and his name inscribed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, DC. Based on all information available, DPAA assessed the case to be in the analytical category of Deferred. Per the DPAA, Deferred means that “there are no new or viable leads, or have restrictions to site access which makes field operations impractical.”

SP4 Wright left behind his wife, Uvah, and four children. Uvah passed away in 2016 at age 84, never remarrying. His memorial cenotaph is at Chapel Hill Memorial Gardens in DeWitt, MI adjoining Uvah’s headstone.

SP4 Arthur Wright’s cenotaph with wife in DeWitt

35-year-old pilot, U.S. Army Chief Warrant Officer 2 Marvin Maurice Leonard from Grand Rapids, was a very well-seasoned member of Company C,159th Aviation Battalion, 101st Airborne Division. He was a 16-year Army veteran, and a Distinguished Flying Cross and Air Medal recipient; this was his second tour of duty in Southeast Asia. He had served in Korea in 1966 for one year before transferring to Germany for another year. He was in Vietnam for 10 months starting in late 1968, then back to Germany for a year. He returned to Vietnam in November of 1970, where he was making flights into Laos.

On February 15, 1971, he was flying "Regard 25," a CH-47C Chinook (tail number 18506) carrying four other crew members of Company C plus one passenger, taking part in a combat support resupply (fuel carrying) mission over Laos. During the flight, "Regard 25" caught fire, exploded, and crashed near the Pon River in Savannakhet Province, Laos. Another helicopter that had witnessed the incident performed an aerial search of the crash site but found no sign of the crew. The remains of the crew chief, SP4 Donald Everett Crone, 22, CA; door gunner, SP4 Willis Calvin Crear, 21, AL; flight engineer, SP4 John Lynn Powers, 22, ID; and passenger, WO Barry Frank Fivelson, 21, IL were eventually recovered and identified December 11, 2000. However, the remains of 25-year-old 2LT James Harry Taylor, CA, the aircraft commander, and CW2 Leonard were not. Based on all information available, DPAA assessed their cases to be in the analytical category of Active Pursuit.

Today, CW2 Leonard and 2LT Taylor are memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific and their names also inscribed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, DC along with the other crew members. Rosettes were placed on the two monuments next to their four companions’ names once their DPAA status changed to Accounted For. A separate monument to the downed crew of the “Regard 25” is located at Arlington National Cemetery in Section 6, Site 8016.

Memorial to the “Regard 25” crew at Arlington

CW2 Leonard left behind a wife, Doris and three young children, two daughters and a son. A church memorial service was held for the benefit of his family and friends in Grand Rapids, April 16, 1971.

In his last letter to his family Leonard wrote, “I feel I’m in Vietnam so our children, and others, can play in the schoolyard in peace and see Old Glory fly. Also, you can bet on our POW’s getting some relief soon. I won’t even rule out a couple more attempts to rescue them, like the last one. Pray for Peace.”

Vietnam Helicopter Pilot and Crewmember Monument, Arlington National Cemetery

CREDITS: Thank you to Marty Eddy, Michigan Coordinator, National League of POW / MIA Families; and DPAA, Fort Sam Huston, and Arlington National Cemetery for information and photos.

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