Specialist Fourth Class
CREW
CHIEF UH-1D 65-10088
21
year old Single, Caucasian, Male
Born
on Feb 15, 1945
From:
Petoskey, Michigan
His
tour of duty began on Feb 04, 1966
Casualty
was on Dec 02, 1966 in Laos
Hostile,
died while missing
Helicopter
- crew air loss, crash on land
Body
was recovered
Religion:
Roman Catholic
(Panel
13E - Line 2)
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Crew Chief Bodzick and his crew
left Khe Sahn South
Vietnam, along with six other UH-1s from the 281st AHC at
approximately 10.00 a.m. on 2 December 1966. Their mission was to recover a
long-range recon team located inside the borders of in Laos. The team,
consisting of two Special Forces personnel (MSG Russell Bott and MSG Willie
Stark) and a number of South Vietnamese Army personnel were in contact and under
heavy fire from larger enemy force from the NVA 325B Division, Stark had been
wounded in the chest and leg, and several ARVN troops had been killed or
wounded. The team reported that
they were running low on ammunition and that their situation was precarious. SGT
Irby Dyer, a medic with Det.. B-52, 5th Special Forces Group was on board the
aircraft with WO Sulander. As the UH-1D neared the team’s position and begin to make its approach it came under heavy intense automatic weapons fire. The crew of a 281st AHC helicopter flying protective cover reported that SP4 Bodzick’s aircraft descended in a nose down attitude and crashed. The aircraft was immediately engulfed in flames and continued to burn for approximately fifteen minutes. Searches conducted between 10 and 13 December located the UH-1D wreckage and identified the remains of the five men aboard, but the search team was not able to recover the bodies. No trace of Bott and Stark was found. Another team was inserted to recover the remains of the helicopter crew, but found that US air strikes in the area had hit the UH-1D wreckage. While three bodies could be positively identified and recovered, WO Sulander and SGT Dyer's remains could not be identified. Although there was some evidence that Bott was captured, there is no certainty of what happened to either of the two Special Forces men. |
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