CW2 Rog Johnson was flying an OH-6A (tail number 68-17337) on January 22, 1971 when he was shot down near Bear Cat in III Corps. His crew members were Crew Chief SGT Frederick A. Vigil, and Observer SGT Michael H. Petty. They were assigned to D Troop 3/4 Cavalry, 25th Infantry at the time. He was part of a Hunter-Killer team that day. I was aircraft commander of the Cobra in that team. He had spotted an active base camp through a high canopy. In the process of turning around over the camp for another look, his aircraft was shot down. Our Blues platoon later determined both he and SGT Petty survived the crash through the canopy. After exiting the burning helicopter, they were shot at close range by Viet Cong. SP4 Vigil died in the crash. (From Hugh "Sandy" McLeod, Centaur 46, D/3/4 CAV 25th Infantry) [Taken from vhpa.org]

The MACV-SOG (Special Forces) were on a UH-1 (240th AHC) doing a training mission in the area.  The helicopter responded to the call for help from McLeod.  The UH-1 received fire and crashed.  WO Seaborn from the 240th and three Special Forces troops were killed in the crash.

 

Comments from Ken Kloppel:

I joined the 3/4 Cav the end of Aug, '70, at Cu Chi with 2 classmates from flight school..

By Christmas '70, Rog Johnson had put in a year, went home to Phoenix for 30 days, planning to extend the extra 6 months for the early out.

By Dec '70, the DA message had come out that Warrants who hadn't taken a Cobra or Chinook transition, had completed a 1 year tour, would be eligible to deros/ets.

Rog made the choice to stay, had his standardization ride & was killed on this mission.

40 days before my deros date in Aug '71, I had chosen not to extend the one year, go indefinite & stay in the Army.
As a result, I had deros/ets orders & I left the Army.

Rog was a good friend & his choice is one I've lived with for a long time. Some choices are good, some not so good but you have to live with all of 'em.

Accident Report
Helicopter OH-6A 68-17337

Information on U.S. Army helicopter OH-6A tail number 68-17337
The Army purchased this helicopter 1169
Total flight hours at this point: 00001089
Date: 01/22/1971
Incident number: 71012211.KIA
Unit: D/3/4 CAV
This was a Combat incident. This helicopter was LOSS TO INVENTORY
This was a Recon mission for Unarmed Recon
Unknown this helicopter was in Orbit at 0015 feet and 060 knots.
South Vietnam
UTM grid coordinates: YS259964
Count of hits was not possible because the helicopter burned or exploded.
Small Arms/Automatic Weapons; Gun launched non-explosive ballistic projectiles less than 20 mm in size. (7.62MM)
Systems damaged were: PERSONNEL
Casualties = 02 KIA, 01 DOI . .
The helicopter Crashed. Aircraft Destroyed.
Both mission and flight capability were terminated.
Burned
Original source(s) and document(s) from which the incident was created or updated: Defense Intelligence Agency Helicopter Loss database. Survivability/Vulnerability Information Analysis Center Helicopter database. Also: OPERA, LNNF, CASRP, FM385 (Operations Report. Lindenmuth New Format Data Base. Casualty Report. )
Loss to Inventory

Crew Members:
P CW2 JOHNSON ROG KIA
CE SP4 VIGIL FREDERICK ANTHONY KIA
OB SGT PETTY MICHAEL HARRIS KIA