Vietnam Vets remember the Mayaguez

A4506-18. President Ford meets with his National Security Council to discuss the Mayaguez situation. May 13, 1975. (clockwise from lower left -Donald Rumsfeld, Assistant; Lt. Gen. Brent Scowcroft, National Security Advisor; Vice President Nelson A. Rockefeller; General David C. Jones, USAF, Acting Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff; William Colby, Director, Central Intelligence Agency; W. Richard Smyser, Senior Staff Member, NSC; President Ford; James R. Schlesinger, Secretary of Defense; and William P. Clements, Deputy Secretary of Defense.

Ford Library Photo Collection
U.S.S. Mayaguez Crisis. A4505-15. The National Security Council meeting in the Cabinet Room on the morning of May 13, 1975

May 13, 1975...an hour after this photo was taken, everyone aboard this CH-53 helicopter was killed.

The helicopter launched from Nahom Phanom airfield at 2030 on 13 May 1975 with a crew of 4 and 17 USAF Security Police onboard to assist in the recovery operation for the USS Mayaguez. The helicopter disappeared from the airfield's radar 40 miles west of the airfield.



CH-53...Tail-Number 68-1033
Unit: 21st SOS
Squadron: 56 SPS
Call Sign: Knife

Crew:
Pilot: James G.Kayes
Co-Pilot: Laurence E.Frohlich
Flight Engineer: George E.McMullen
Flight Engineer: TSgt.Jackie Glenn

USAF Security Police:
Sgt.Jimmy Black
Sgt.Bobby Collums
SSgt.Gerald Coyle
Sgt.Thomas Dwyer
Sgt.Bob Ford
Sgt.Gerald Fritz
Sgt.Darrell Hamlin
Sgt.Gregory Hankamer
Sgt.David Higgs
SSgt.Faleagafula Ilaoa
Sgt.Michael Lane
Sgt.Dennis London
Sgt.Robert Mathias
Sgt.William McKelvey
Amn.Edgar Moran
Sgt.Tommy Nealis
Sgt.Robert Ross

http://web.archive.org/web/20000903004357/
members.tripod.com/~GranzowMissingLinks/68-10933.html

Capture and Release of SS Mayaguez by Khmer Rouge forces in May 1975

http://www.usmm.org/mayaguez.html