Name: Mark V. Dennis
Rank/Branch: HM3/USN
Unit:
Date of Birth:
Home City of Record: OH
Loss Date: 15 July 1966
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: (unknown) Dong Ha
Status (In 1973): Killed In Action
Acft/Vehicle/Ground: CH46 Helicopter
Other Personnel In
Incident:
REMARKS: Not on official Missing lists
SYNOPSIS: Hospitalman Mark Dennis was a Navy medic aboard a Chinook
helicopter when it was shot down on July 15, 1966. All men on board
were declared Killed In Action. Three and a half weeks later, a casket
arrived in Ohio and was buried. In November, 1970, an issue of News-
week carried a photograph of an "unknown POW" which his brother felt was
MARK DENNIS. That, combined with an earlier report from the Navy, that
"a couple of men could have gotten out of the helicopter" sparked Mark's
brother to travel to Paris, Bangkok and Vietnam in search of the truth.
The remains proported to be those of Mark Dennis were exhumed, and
exaustive tests made. The results proved to Mark's family beyond a
shadow of a doubt that they DID NOT BURY MARK DENNIS, but someone else,
unknown to them. Mark's family continues to actively pursue answers to
their question, "Where is Mark Dennis?"
I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to keep pushing this
issue inside the Beltway...
The need to get specific answers is more important now than ever before.
If still alive, some MIAs are now in their 70s...They don't have much
time left. We have to demand the answers from the bureaucrats and keep
standing on their necks (figuratively speaking) until they get the
message that THEY work for US and that we are serious about getting
these long overdue responses. Diplomatic considerations aside...
We can no longer allow questionable protocols established by
pseudo-aristocratic armchair strategists, to determine or influence the
fate of the men who were in the trenches while the diplomats were
sharing sherry and canapes and talking about "Their Plans" for the
future of SE Asia.