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HOUSH, ANTHONY FRANK Name: Anthony Frank Housh
Rank/Branch: E6/US Army
Unit: B Company, 228th Aviation Battalion (Assault Support
Helicopter), 11th Aviation Group, 1st Cavalry Division
Date of Birth: 26 June 1946 (Decatur IL)
Home City of Record: Newton IL
Date of Loss: 19 April 1968
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 161918N 1070921E (YD291087)
Status (in 1973): Missing In Action
Category: 4
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: CH47
Refno: 1135
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: Michael Wallace; (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. Some 250,000 interviews and "millions of documents" have been
analyzed relating to Americans who may still be alive, captive, in Southeast
Asia. Many experts believe there are hundreds of men still alive, waiting
for their country to rescue them. Whether any of the nine missing from
near LZ Tiger is among them is unknown, but it is clearly past time for us
to bring our men home.
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