Airman First Class James E. Pleiman
Killed in Action: March 14, 1966
AiC James Pleiman was manning CROWN BRAVO in a HU-1B tail number 51-0071 (similar to the aircraft pictured above), when an F-4C (tail number 64-0740) of the 480th Tac Fighter Squadron was hit by AAA fire while conducting an armed reconnaissance mission south of Than Hoa. The F-4C crew, Major James M. Peerson and Captain Lynwood C. Bryant, managed to get over water before ejecting in the vicinity of a small island chain just offshore North Vietnam, almost equidistant from Than Hoa to the north and Vinh to the south. The HU-16 and Navy SAR forces were activated with Peerson and Bryant about a mile offshore.
The UH-16 was first on station, supported by fixed-wing aircraft. When Westenbarger landed, the Albatross drew artillery and mortar fire from emplacements ashore as well as small-arms fire from sampans headed out to capture the downed F-4 crewmen. As the UH-16 crew, with A1c Pleiman in the water, attempted to assist Major Peerson aboard, the HU-16 was hit by an artillery shell and exploded in flames, leaving eight men in the water. A Navy SH-3 helicopter from HS-4 was able to pick up Major Peerson before being forced from the area with combat damage. A second SH-3 (also HS-4), operating under cover of supporting fixed-wing aircraft, picked up Bryant, Westenbarger, Hall, and Jackson, and a Navy UH-2 from HC-2 later picked up Captain Price. The rescued HU-16 crewmen stated that A1c Hilton was killed before the Albatross was abandoned and that A1c Pleiman was floating face-down in the water afterwards. |
