George William Tom

Specialist Fifth Class
 CREW CHIEF  UH-1H #66-00870
23 year old Single, Caucasian, Male
Born on Jan 02, 1947
From: Stanton, Texas
Length of service 2 years.
His tour of duty began on Jul 05, 1968
Casualty was on Apr 27, 1970 in Pleiku, South Vietnam
Hostile, helicopter - crew air loss, crash on land
Body was recovered
Religion: Roman Catholic
(Panel 11W - Line 61)

 

Monday, 27 April 1970, George was flying as crew chief with CW2 Robert W. Gardner, aircraft commander, and WO Stanley J. Miller, pilot, flying C&C on a mission for the 4th Infantry Division in the An Khe Pass, with 3 passengers on board when their aircraft, UH-1H 66-00870, was shot down near Pleiku, RVN.  The only surviving crew member, SP4 Gary Fields was gunner for the mission and has a concise recollection of the incident.  Gary remembers flying up the pass when the aircraft became targeted by .50 caliber fire from both sides.  CW2 Gardner took the brunt of the fire and slumped over the controls as the aircraft nosed over out of control. 

When Gary realized that the aircraft was going to crash, he jumped from the ship and fell approximately 200 feet, landing in a rice patty.  Gary suffered multiple injuries as a result of the fall, and to this date is disabled.  He was the only survivor because he jumped from the aircraft as it crashed in front of the lead ship in a combat aviation assault.  

Mr. Jackie Don Wilkes, George's first cousin, provided these recollections and pictures.

"I don't remember ever seeing many pics of George while in Vietnam!  I think we were told that his trunk was gone through after his death so we did not receive hardly any of his personal things from his foot locker.  His medals are in the Stanton Texas Martin County Museum.  

I remember George being on leave in between his two tours, he and I were driving around in Stanton having a few beers and someone threw a fire cracker near the road as we drove by and I thought he was going to dig threw the floorboard of my car.  When he raised up again he was shaking so hard he couldn't talk for a few minutes.  He told me what ever you do not to go to Vietnam.  I think I had just graduated from high school, so it had to have been around July 1969.  I know it was the last time I saw him.

One of the story's that has been told is George volunteered to go on a second tour so he could come  home sooner.  He had met a lady "Adelaide" while stationed in the states and wanted to marry her on his return from Vietnam.  Fourteen days before he was to return was the crash." 




Pictures provided by Mr. Jackie Don Wilkes, George's first cousin, of Stanton, TX.

   

 



Pictures provided by Mr. Jackie Don Wilkes, George's first cousin, of Stanton, TX.

 

This picture was provided by Billy M. Brown, Permian Basin Vietnam Veteran Memorial (located in Midland, TX and online at: http://www.veteransmemorial.us), honoring the Veterans who died from West Texas.  George is buried in St. Joseph Cemetery in Stanton, TX.

 

 

If you have a picture of this Intruder, or any information regarding his life, or the circumstances of his death in Vietnam, please contact the Webmaster.


 

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