I recently got an email from someone who said the had been on a mission to try to find out what happened at this particular incident. He was going to email me with more info, but I haven't heard from him since! If you are reading please email back!!!
There is somewhat of a story behind the soilder I adopted. His name is Sheldon Schultz and I first became familiar with him back in 1992 when I got a Pow/Mia Braclet and his name was on it. I did not request any special state, but Sheldon was from Altoona, Pa. --just an hour and a half from where I live, and that is the one they sent me.
I went to Washington D.C. that year (before I got the braclet) and that was the first time I saw The Wall. The interesting thing was the quiet, that is what I remember most. All the other monuments were noisy... with people and kids running around. But not at The Wall. Very quiet. When you walk down the sidewalk it is like walking into a grave. As you walk up the other side you feel like you are leaving someone behind. It is spooky to say the least. And it is amazing what friends, family, and strangers leave behind in remembrance.
The summer before my senior year in High School I joined the Army Reserves and went to basic training. This was 1993. In the spring of '94 the traveling wall came to Punxsutawney, Pa (where my reserve unit was). I was one of the reservists who did the gun salute. While I was there I found a booklet that listed soldiers from the area who were on the wall. I wasn't expecting to see Sheldon's name, he was MIA. That is when I found out he had been declared KIA. There was even a picture of him... It was strange to see his picture, and I can't find the booklet now so if anyone has a copy please contact me. 814-880-1615
Later I went active duty and was stationed at Walter Reed AMC. I made plenty of trips to the wall and stared at his name many of times.
A couple years have passed and here I sit in front of a computer. I found the site to adopt a pow/mia and decided to do so. When I sent in my request I asked for a Pennsylvania, Army soldier hoping I would get Sheldon. I thought I probably wouldn't because there were others that fit that description, what would be the chances. Somehow I knew I would get his name though. This guy just seems to haunt me where ever I go. But I don't mind.
I recently requested every microfilm out there with his name on it to find some more information. I will keep you updated.
SCHULTZ, SHELDON DUANE
Name: Sheldon Duane Schultz
Rank/Branch: WO/US Army
Unit: 176th Aviation Company, 14th Aviation Battalion, 23rd
Infantry
Division
(Americal)
Date of Birth: 19 April 1948
Home City of Record: Altoona PA
Date of Loss: 05 January 1968
Country of Loss: Laos
Loss Coordinates: 161907N 1063445E (XD701021)
Status (in 1973): Missing In Action
Category: 4
Acft/Vehicle/Ground: UH1D
Other Personnel In Incident: James Williamson; John T. Gallagher; Ernest
F.
Briggs; Dennis C. Hamilton (all missing); (indigenous team members, names,
numbers, fates unknown)
REMARKS: NO SIGN OF CREW
SYNOPSIS: On January 5, 1968, WO Dennis C. Hamilton, aircraft commander;
WO
Sheldon D. Schultz, pilot; SP5 Ernest F. Briggs, Jr., crew chief; SP4 James
P. Williamson, crewman, and SSgt. John T. Gallagher, passenger; were aboard
a UH1D helicopter (tail # 66-1172) on a mission to infiltrate an indigenous
reconnaissance patrol into Laos.
The reconnaissance patrol and SSgt. Gallagher were operating under orders
to
Command & Control North, MACV-SOG (Military Assistance Command, Vietnam
Studies and Observation Group). MACV-SOG was a joint service high command
unconventional warfare task force engaged in highly classified operations
throughout Southeast Asia. The 5th Special Forces channeled personnel into
MACV-SOG (although it was not a Special Forces group) through Special
Operations Augmentation (SOA), which provided their "cover" while under
secret orders to MACV-SOG. The teams performed deep penetration missions
of
strategic reconnaissance and interdiction which were called, depending on
the time frame, "Shining Brass" or "Prairie Fire" missions.
As the aircraft approached the landing zone about 20 miles inside Laos south
of Lao Bao, it came under heavy 37mm anti-aircraft fire while at an altitude
of about 300 feet above ground level. The aircraft immediately entered a
nose-low vertical dive and crashed.
Upon impact with the ground, the aircraft burst into flames which were 10
to
20 feet high. No radio transmissions were heard during the helicopter's
descent, nor were radio or beeper signals heard after impact. Four attempts
to get into the area of the downed helicopter failed due to intense ground
fire.
During the next two days more attempts to get to the wreckage failed. The
pilot of one search helicopter maneuvered to within 75 feet of the crash
site before being forced out by enemy fire. The pilot who saw the wreckage
stated that the crashed helicopter was a mass of burned metal and that there
was no part of the aircraft that could be recognized. No signs of life were
seen in the crash area.
Weather delayed further search attempts for a couple of days. After the
weather improved, the successful insertion of a ground team was made east
of
the crash site to avoid enemy fire. The team was extracted after the second
day, finding nothing. The crash site was located near the city of Muong Nong
in Savannakhet Province, Laos.
Nearly 600 Americans were lost in Laos. The Pathet Lao insisted that the
"tens of tens" of Americans they held would only be released from Laos, but
the U.S. did not officially recognize the communist faction in Laos and did
not negotiate for American prisoners being held by them. Not one American
held by the Lao was ever released.
Alarmingly, evidence continues to mount that Americans were left as prisoners in Southeast Asia and continue to be held today. Unlike "MIAs" from other wars, most of the nearly 2500 men and women who remain missing in Southeast Asia can be accounted for. Perhaps the crew of the helicopter did not survive the crash, but until there is positive proof of their deaths, we cannot forget them. If even one was left behind at the end of the war, alive, (and many authorities estimate the numbers to be in the hundreds), we have failed as a nation until and unless we do everything possible to secure his freedom and bring him home.
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