BUSH, ELBERT WAYNE

Remains returned 1996 - Id'd 10/04/99

Name: Elbert Wayne Bush
Rank/Branch: E6/US Army
Unit: AGC Army Advisory Group Headquarters - MACV
Date of Birth: 13 October 1946 (Starksville MS)
Home City of Record: Jackson MS
Date of Loss: 08 January 1973
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 16421N 1070956E (YD324528)
Status (in 1973): Missing In Action
Category: 1
Acft/Vehicle/Ground: UH1H
Refno: 1978

Other Personnel in Incident: William L. Deane; Richard A. Knutson; Manuel A.
Lauterio; William S. Stinson; Mickey A. Wilson (all missing)

Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 01 April 1991 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 2020.

REMARKS:

SYNOPSIS: WO1 Richard Knutson, pilot; WO1 Mickey A. Wilson, aircraft
commander; SP5 William S. Stinson, gunner; SP5 Manuel A. Lauterio, crew
chief; and SSgt. Elbert W. Bush and Maj. William L. Dean, both passengers;
were aboard a UH1H helicopter (serial #69-15619) that flew in support of the
American Senior Advisor to the Vietnamese Airborne Division in Quang Tri and
Thua Thien Provinces, working between the provincial capitals of Hue and
Quang Tri.

On January 8, 1973, at about 1430 hours, the aircraft had departed a landing
zone en route to other LZs without making radio contact with the 2nd
Battalion Technical Operations Center. When no radio contact was received by
1500 hours, the other LZs were queried. The helicopter did not go to either
of the two designated LZs, nor had any communication been established with
them.

The helicopter's intended route would have taken it northwest toward Quang
Tri, with a left turn to an LZ south of the Thach Han River. Although the
helicopter failed to contact either LZ along the route, it was later seen
flying northwest toward Quang Tri City and crossing the Thach Han River into
enemy held territory. While in this area, the helicopter was seen to circle
with door guns firing. Enemy automatic weapons fire was heard, and a direct
hit was made on the tail boom by a missile, reportedly an SA7.

Aerial searches of the suspected crash site on January 8 and 9 failed to
locate either the wreckage or the crew. The aircraft was shot down less than
three weeks before American involvement in the war came to an official end.

Intelligence reports indicated that of the six men aboard, four were seen
alive on the ground. Further information indicated that the aircraft did not
explode or burn on impact. The families of the men assumed that their loved
ones would be released with the other POWs. Some were even so informed.

But the crew of the UH1H was not released, and have not been released or
found since that day. As thousands of reports of Americans alive in
Southeast Asia mount, these families wonder if their men are among the
hundreds thought to be still alive.

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  FLORIDAY TODAY -  Friday April 7, 2000

Time to remember Vietnam victims

....At 9 a.m. next Friday at Arlington National Cemetery, Ingrid Deane of
Melbourne will witness the latest chapter in accurate accounting when her
late husband, Lt. Col. William L. Deane, is buried with full military
honors. She says her 27-year struggle to cope with a loss that ultimately
was verified by dental records in 1998 is too painful to discuss at this
time. She asked that the names of his colleagues who'll be buried with him
appear in print: Mickey A. Wilson, Elbert W. Bush and William S. Stinson....

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01/2020 

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