Source: Compiled from one or more of the following: raw data from U.S. 
Government agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA families, 
published sources, interviews. Updated by the P.O.W. NETWORK in 1998. 

Other Personnel In Incident: Anthony F. Housh; (missing from CH47, 
coordinates YD291087-LZ Tiger; pilot, co-pilot and gunner survived); Douglas 
R. Blodgett; William Dennis; Jesus Gonzales (missing from CH47A, coordinates 
YD290105; pilot and co-pilot survived); Arthur J. Lord; Charles W. Millard; 
Philip R. Shafer; Michael R. Werdehoff (missing on CH54, coordinates 
YD255095-LZ Tiger) 

REMARKS: 

SYNOPSIS: On April 19, 1968 three Army helicopters were shot down in the A 
Shau Valley of South Vietnam. All three were making supply runs to Landing 
Zone Tiger in Quang Tri Province. Five men survived the three crashes, and 
nine men remain missing. 

The CH47A on which Douglas Blodgett was a crewman, William Dennis was flight 
engineer, and Jesus Gonzales was crewchief was resupplying ammunition at the 
LZ when it received small arms fire from the ground and crashed. The pilot 
and co-pilot were able to crawl away, but the rest of the crew was never 
found. They were declared Missing In Action. 

The CH47 on which Anthony Housh was flight engineer and Michael Wallace was 
crewchief was hit by 50 calibre and 37 mm ground fire on its approach to the 
LZ. Housh and Wallace jumped from the aircraft from an altitude of 50-100 
feet above the jungle canopy. The others were rescued. No trace of Housh and 
Wallace was ever found. They were declared Missing In Action. 

The CH54 "Flying Crane" on which Arthur Lord was aircraft commander, Charles 
Millard pilot, Arthur J. Lord co-pilot, Michael Werdehoff flight engineer, and Philip Shafer crewchief was carrying a bulldozer into the recently resecured LZ Tiger when the aircraft was hit and crashed. All the crew were classified Missing In Action. 

Thorough searches for the 3 helicopters were not immediately possible because of the enemy situation. A refugee later reported that he had found the wreckage of two U.S. helicopters, one with 3 sets of skeletal remains, in Quang Tri Province. The U.S. Army believes this could correlate with any of the three helicopters lost on April 19, 1968, but no firm evidence has been secured that would reveal the fate of the nine missing servicemen. 

Photo Courtesy of Rosxanne Wells-Layton, July 2006