Name:	Jerry Wayne Hendrix
Rank/Branch:	Corporal/US Marine Corps
Unit:	HMM-165, Marine Air Group-36, 1st Marine Air Wing USS Tripoli
Date of Birth:	27 December 1942 (Wichita, KS)
Home of Record:	Wichita, KS
Date of Loss:	11 July 1972
Country of Loss:	South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates:	163433N 1072250E (YD345644) Click coordinates to view maps
Status in 1973:	Killed/Body Not Recovered
Category:	3
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground:	CH53D "Sea Stallion"
Other Personnel In Incident:	Kenneth L. Crody (missing)

REMARKS:

SYNOPSIS:  The Sikorsky CH-53 Sea Stallion was the largest, fastest and most powerful heavy lift helicopter in the US Marine Corps' inventory. Its primary mission was to move cargo and equipment in a timely manner. Its secondary role was to transport troops. The helicopter's cargo/troop compartment was 30 feet long, 7 ½ feet wide and 6 ½ feet high with a rear door and loading ramp as well as a remotely controlled winch located at the forward end of the compartment capable to lifting downed aircraft or sling-loaded cargo. There was sufficient space available to transport a jeep with trailer, a 105mm howitzer or a Hawk missile system. It was also able to carry 38 combat-equipped Americans or 50 South Vietnamese troops. When conducting a medivac mission, it could transport a total of 24 litter patients. The Sea Stallion was unique in its capacity to make emergency water landings and takeoffs if necessary.

On 8 February 1971, South Vietnamese President Thieu announced Lam Son 719, a large-scale offensive against enemy communications and supply lines in that part of Laos adjacent to the two northern provinces of South Vietnam along the Ho Chi Minh Trail. The mission was to interdict the flow of supplies from North Vietnam. The South Vietnamese Army (ARVN) would provide and command ground forces, while US forces would provide airlift and supporting fire. Phase I, renamed Operation Dewey Canyon II, involved an armored attack by the US from Vandegrift Base Camp toward Khe Sanh, while the ARVN moved into position for the attack across the Laotian border. Phase II began with an ARVN helicopter assault and armored brigade thrust along Route 9 into Laos. ARVN ground troops were transported by American helicopters, as the US Air Force provided cover strikes around the landing zones.

On 11 July 1972, as part of Lam Son 719 Phase II, a total of 34 US Marine helicopters and their aircrews participated in a major troop insertion operation into to LZ Blue Jay and LZ Crow. These landing zones were located close together in a densely populated and hotly contested sector of northeastern I Corps approximately 2 miles southwest of the coastline, 6 miles north-northeast of Quang Tri City and 11 miles south of the demilitarized zone (DMZ), Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam. Numerous hamlets and villages dotted the coastal plain to the north, south and west of the LZs while marshes with scattered rice fields were located to the east of them. The Dam Cho Chua River, which was a major tributary that branched off of the Cua Viet River, flowed roughly ¼ mile west of the planned landing zones and Highway 560 was located ½ mile west of them.

The aircrews were assigned to either HMM-164 from the USS Okinawa or HMM-165 from the USS Tripoli, and the Americans were transporting a total of 840 Vietnamese Marines, who were assigned to the 1st Vietnamese Marine Battalion, along with their equipment, rations and 12,000 rounds of ammunition. The troop carriers, which totaled one half of all helicopters participating in this mission, were protected by AH-1G Cobra and UH1H Huey gunships.

SSgt. Clyde K. Nelson, crewchief; SSgt. Jerry W. Hendrix, door gunner; Cpl. Kenneth L. Crody, door gunner, and an unidentified pilot and co-pilot; comprised the crew of a CH-53D helicopter (serial #156658) assigned to the USS Tripoli. Also onboard this aircraft was a US Marine combat photographer from Battalion Landing Team (BLT), 1st Battalion, 9th Marines and 50 Vietnamese Marines.

After picking up the Vietnamese troops and their gear, all aircraft proceeded toward LZ Blue Jay and LZ Crow in an assault formation. Before the troop transports arrived onsite, the entrenched NVA positions surrounding the designated landing zones were subjected to an intense barrage from artillery and air attacks. Once the barrage was lifted, the Cobra and Huey gunships fired upon any visible enemy position while the Sea Stallions raced toward the LZs to unload their passengers.

As the transports approached the their respective LZs, they came under intense NVA ground fire from entrenched bunkers and firing pits. The vulnerable Sea Stallions were exposed to an intense crossfire from small arms, heavy weapons, rocket propelled grenades (RPGs) and missiles.

As the battle raged around them, the helicopter that was crewed by Kenneth Crody, Jerry Hendrix and Clyde Nelson, approached the LZ. The pilot flared it, then descended toward the landing zone. When the Sea Stallion reached an altitude of 100 feet above the ground, the well-armed communist forces fired a ground-to-air missile at the vulnerable aircraft. The missile, which was either a SA-2 or an SA-7, struck it in its right power plant sending engine turbine fragments down and forward into the passenger compartment devastating its occupants and igniting fuel and ammunition. The pilot auto-rotated the flaming aircraft to the ground in a controlled "crash and burn" procedure. As he did so, the heat and fire continued to ignite more ammunition causing a series of explosions within the fuselage. As soon as the helicopter touched down, only a few surviving crewmen and passengers were able to escape the intense inferno.

According to witnesses, Jerry Hendrix, Kenneth Crody and the majority of the Vietnamese Marines were killed outright and their remains incinerated in the fire that literally consumed the Sea Stallion. Once on the ground Clyde Nelson was on fire as he exited the helicopter's wreckage. The pilot and co-pilot, who were already out of the burning hulk, put the fire out and then pulled him into the relative safety of a nearby bomb crater. The combat photographer and 7 passengers were the only other survivors of this incident.

The seven Vietnamese Marines successfully escaped and evaded enemy forces to reach the safety of friendly lines. The four Americans stayed together in the bomb crater. As the battle continued all around them, the Sea Stallion's wreckage burned until very little of it was left. When the wreckage cooled sufficiently, the Americans watched NVA troops poke through the twisted wreckage and ashes. Fortunately, their hiding place remained undetected.

At dusk a Vietnamese Marine search and rescue (SAR) patrol successfully reached the bomb crater. After treating their wounds, the Marines transported the Americans to friendly lines. Afterward, a US Army medivac helicopter evacuated Clyde Nelson to an American hospital and the pilot, co-pilot and combat photographer to their ship. Later SSgt. Nelson was moved to a special burn unit where he died of his injuries on 9 August 1972. At the time of loss, Kenneth Crody and Jerry Hendrix were immediately listed Killed in Action/Body Not Recovered.

While the fate of Kenneth Crody and Jerry Hendrix is not in doubt, each man has the right to have his remains returned to his family, friends and country if at all humanly possible. The hard reality is there is only a very slim chance of ever recovering either man's remains. Above all else, each man has the right not to be forgotten by the nation for which he gave his life. For other Americans who remain unaccounted for in Southeast Asia, their fate could be quite different.

Since the end of the Vietnam War well over 21,000 reports of American prisoners, missing and otherwise unaccounted for have been received by our government. Many of these reports document LIVE America Prisoners of War remaining captive throughout Southeast Asia TODAY.

American military men were called upon to fly and fight in many dangerous circumstances, and they were prepared to be wounded, killed or captured. It probably never occurred to them that they could be abandoned by the country they so proudly served.