Lance Corporal Donald Frederick Davidson, Served with Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 361 (HMM-361), Marine Aircraft Group 16 (MAG-16), !st Marine Aircraft Wing (1st MAW), Fleet Marine Force Pacific (FMFPAC).

On October 8, 1963, two UH-34D helicopters from Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 361 (HMM-361), First Marine Air Wing, Fleet Marine Force Pacific, performed a search-and-rescue (SAR) mission for a downed friendly aircraft, a VNAF T-28 with two pilots (one Vietnamese & one U.S. Air Force). While over Quang Nam Province, Vietnam, the helicopters crashed some 43 miles west of Da Nang, South Vietnam in a mountainous jungle terrain, in what was then hostile territory. The exact cause of the accident is unknown (according to the Navy), although Joint Casualty Resolution Center had some evidence that an air collision occurred prior to the aircraft crashing. According to contemporary news accounts, the nine Marines and three Navy medical personnel killed represented the biggest loss of American lives from a single incident up to that time in the war. The two crews included from aircraft 148781 aircraft commander CAPT William T. Harris, co-pilot 1LT Daniel K. Lessig, crew chief SGT Larry D. Jameson, rescue specialist LCPL Luther E. Ritchey Jr., medic HM3 Manuel R. Denton, and flight surgeon LT Bruce C. Farrell; from aircraft 148759 aircraft commander WO1 Charles F. Whitehead Jr., co-pilot 1LT Arthur G. Richardson, crew chief CPL Ronald F. Skoviak, rescue specialist LCPL Donald F. Davidson, medic HN Claude Rice, and passenger CPL Charles P. Tuthill. CPL Tuthill was the NCOIC of the SHUFLY photo lab during the time of this mission. While the SAR mission was being conducted, the pilot of the L-19 [Army] lost visual and radio contact with the two helicopters and returned to base. Prior to both aircraft being declared overdue or assumed missing, search operations were initiated. Due to deteriorating weather conditions, the search was discontinued until first light of the next day, October 9, 1963. Rescue operations began at first light October 9th with two squadron helicopters accompanied by an O-1B weather reconnaissance aircraft being launched to search for the missing helicopters. The search aircraft sighted the wreckage. The first troop carrying helicopter made an approach to the landing zone and was fired at by an enemy automatic weapon, hit, wounding the copilot and killing an RVN trooper in the passenger compartment. During one troop lift, the wreckage of the second Marine helicopter was found within approximately 500-600 yards from the first crash site in dense jungle growth with no apparent survivors. Enemy small arms fire continued intermittently throughout the period. At the completion of operations, three Marine pilots had been wounded. On October 10th, 6 bodies from one aircraft and the body of the pilot of the second aircraft were recovered. The next day three additional bodies were recovered from the other aircraft. The remains of LCPL Ritchey and HM3 Denton were not recovered thorough searching within a 250 yard radius of the crash site. Due to the condition of the wreckage, conclusive evidence existed beyond a reasonable doubt that both were dead and that they had died in the same accident at the same time as the other crew members. Denton and Ritchey were initially placed in a casualty status of Missing and later changed to Reported Dead. Since their remains were never recovered, they were listed among the unaccounted for servicemen from the Vietnam War. Between 1991 and 2000, several joint U.S./Socialist Republic of Vietnam (S.R.V.) teams, led by the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC), traveled to Quang Nam Province to investigate the incident and interview witnesses. Teams also surveyed the crash site and found wreckage consistent with a UH-34D. In 2000 and 2001, human remains associated with this incident were turned over to U.S. officials. In 2002, a joint team excavated the crash site and recovered human remains. As a result of the remains turned over in 2000 and 2001, and of those recovered from the crash site in 2002, Ritchey's remains were identified in 2003. Some of these remains could not be individually identified, and they are included in a group representing the entire crew. Denton's remains are in this group, which were buried together in Arlington National Cemetery. [Taken from pownetwork.org]


Panel 1E, Row 29 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

Photo courtesy of Janna Hoehn

News report in The Shreveport Times, Wednesday, October 23, 1963, page 10-A. Used with written permission.

LCpl Donald Frederick Davidson

LCpl Donald Frederick Davidson