BERDAHL, DAVID DONALD

Name: David Donald Berdahl
Rank/Branch: E3/US Army
Unit: Troop D, 3rd Squadron, 5th Cavalry, 101st Airborne Division
Date of Birth: 16 January 1953 (Michigan ND)
Home City of Record: Minot ND
Date of Loss: 20 January 1972
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 163837N 1064557E (XD883408)
Status (in 1973): Killed/Body Not Recovered
Category: 3
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: UH1H
Refno: 1795
Other Personnel in Incident: Harry J. Edwards (missing)

REMARKS:

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 2020.

SYNOPSIS: On January 20, 1972, SP4 Harry J. Edwards, one of four riflemen;
PFC David D. Berdahl, the door gunner, and a four man crew were aboard a
UH1H helicopter (tail #69-16717) on a recovery mission for downed F4 fighter
jet pilots.

At about 1815 hours, the aircraft was returning from the mission northwest
of Kne Sanh in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, when an anti-aircraft
weapon fired on and hit the aircraft, causing it to catch fire.

At first, the fire appeared at the forward end of the tail boom, but
immediately spread over the boom and then engulfed the entire aircraft. The
helicopter autorotated to the bank of the Raoquan River, landed hard and
rolled over onto its left side.

The aircraft commander of another UH1H followed the burning aircraft down,
made a pass overhead, and came to a hover adjacent to the downed helicopter.
Landing was impossible because of jagged rocks. While in a hover, the
aircraft commander saw one man dressed in a flight suit, helmet and armored
vest pinned down in the burning aircraft. This individual was apparently
Berdahl.

The hovering helicopter was forced to leave because the downed aircraft
started to explode. He did not observe anyone leaving the aircraft alive,
but picked up 5 survivors from the crash site and flew about 50 feet
downstream to pick up another survivor.

Berdahl and Edwards were declared Killed in Action, Body Not Recovered. It
has not been possible since that day to locate them if alive, or to recover
their bodies, if dead.

It was not uncommon for men to die trying to rescue another wounded or
downed comrade - each would say it was their duty, and that the same would
be done for them. They kept the faith with each other. Edwards had only
turned 20 years old the previous November, and Berdahl was only four days
older than the legal age for being in a combat zone. He was just 19 years
old.

Since the war ended, many thousands of reports have come in convincing many
authorities that hundreds of Americans remain alive in enemy hands. The U.S.
Government, although admitting the "possibility", continues to assert that
there is no "proof". Have we kept the faith with the men we sent to fight
for us? What would Berdahl and Edwards say?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

01/2020

https://dpaa.secure.force.com/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt0000000KYFLEA4

PFC DAVID DONALD BERDAHL

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On January 20, 1972, a UH-1H Iroquois (tail number 69-16717) carrying four crew and four passengers took off on a recovery mission for downed U.S. pilots. The aircraft was returning from the rescue mission when it was hit by enemy ground fire southeast of Khe Sanh combat base in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam. The aircraft caught fire and crash landed on the bank of the Rao Quan River, in the vicinity of (GC) XD 883 408. A rescue crew member observed an individual from the loss aircraft pinned face down in the burning wreckage, but was unable to extricate him. Hostile forces in the area prevented further rescue attempts at the crash site, and two members of the crew remain unaccounted for.

Private First Class David Donald Berdahl, who joined the U.S. Army from North Dakota, was a member of Troop D, 3rd Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. He was a door gunner aboard the UH-1H when it went down, and was lost with the aircraft. His remains were not recovered following the incident. Today, Private First Class Berdahl is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Based on all information available, DPAA assessed the individual's case to be in the analytical category of Active Pursuit.

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