DENNIS, MARK V.

Name:  Mark V. Dennis
Rank/Branch: HM3/USN
Unit:
Date of Birth:
Home City of Record: OH
Loss Date: 15 July 1966
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates:(unknown) Dong Ha
Status (In 1973):  Killed In Action
Acft/Vehicle/Ground: CH46 Helicopter
Other Personnel In Incident:

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.

REMARKS:  Not on official Missing lists

SYNOPSIS:  Hospitalman Mark Dennis was a Navy medic aboard a Chinook
helicopter when it was shot down on July 15, 1966.  All men on board
were declared Killed In Action.  Three and a half weeks later, a casket
arrived in Ohio and was buried.  In November, 1970, an issue of News-
week carried a photograph of an "unknown POW" which his brother felt was
MARK DENNIS.  That, combined with an earlier report from the Navy, that
"a couple of men could have gotten out of the helicopter" sparked Mark's
brother to travel to Paris, Bangkok and Vietnam in search of the truth.

The remains purported to be those of Mark Dennis were exhumed, and
exhaustive tests made.  The results proved to Mark's family beyond a
shadow of a doubt that they DID NOT BURY MARK DENNIS, but someone else,
unknown to them.  Mark's family continues to actively pursue answers to
their question, "Where is Mark Dennis?"

BAMBOO CAGE - by Nigel Cawthorn
Page 225

.... This was not the first time errors have come to light. During the war
itself grave doubts arose over the army's identification methods. The family
of Navy corpsman Mark V. Dennis were told that he had been killed in a
helicopter crash in 1966. Remains were identified and returned to the family
who buried them. But in 1970, Jerry Dennis saw a picture of his brother in
Newsweek magazine alive in North Vietnam. The picture was captioned:
'Unidentified PoW.'....