Bio, Graziosi, Fransic G.

Name: Francis George Graziosi
Rank/Branch: E4/US Army
Unit: 71st Aviation Company, 14th Aviation Battalion, 16th Aviation Group, 23rd
Infantry Division (Americal), Chu Lai, South Vietnam
Date of Birth: 10 January 1951
Home City of Record: Rochester NY
Date of Loss: 10 January 1970
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 152927N 1081808E (BT239141)
Status (in 1973): Missing In Action
Category: 4
Acft/Vehicle/Ground: UH1C
Refno: 1547

Other Personnel In Incident: George A. Howes; Wayne C. Allen; Herbert C.
Crosby (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.

SYNOPSIS: On January 10, 1970, Capt. Herbert C. Crosby, pilot; WO George A.
Howes, co-pilot; SP5 Wayne C. Allen, crew chief; and SP4 Francis G.
Graziosi, door gunner; were flying a UH1C helicopter (serial #66-739) as the
flight lead in a flight of three helicopters returning from Tien Phuoc to
the unit base at Chu Lai, South Vietnam.

(Note: Records differs as to the aircraft type on this incident. Some
records show the aircraft type this crew was flying as UH1H, and some show
it as a UH1C. Herbert Crosby flew Charlie models every day from at least
July 1969 to January 1970. The serial number, #66-739 correlates to a C
model, the first two numbers indicating that the aircraft had been made in
1966, and the H model only had come out a few months before this time.
Although C models were gunships, and usually flew more or less
independently, while this aircraft was flying in tight formation as flight
lead, which would correlate with the H model, it has been confirmed that the
ship on which this crew was flying was definitely a Charlie model.)

At 1300 hours, the three helicopters departed Tien Phuoc. Five to ten
minutes later, due to instrument flight rules, Capt. Crosby directed the
flight to change to a different flight heading. When the helicopters changed
frequencies to contact Chu Lai ground control approach, radio contact was
lost with Capt. Crosby and was not regained.

The other two aircraft reached Chu Lai heliport, and at 1400 hours, serach
efforts were begun for the missing aircraft, although the crew was not
found.

According to a 1974 National League of Families report, George Howes
survived the crash of this helicopter. The report further maintains that the
loss occurred in Laos, although the coordinates place it some 40-odd miles
from that country.

A North Vietnamese prisoner released later reported that he had seen Howes
in captivity the same month the helicopter went down. A second sighting by a
villager in Phuoc Chouc (or Phouc Chau) village reported Howes and two other
POWs stopped for water at his house in February, 1970, en route to Laos.
Whether these reports also relate to Allen, Crosby and Graziosi, is unknown.

When the last American troops left Southeast Asia in 1975, some 2500
Americans were unaccounted for. Reports received by the U.S.Government since
that time build a strong case for belief that hundreds of these "unaccounted
for" Americans are still alive and in captivity.

"Unaccounted for" is a term that should apply to numbers, not men. We, as a
nation, owe these men our best effort to find them and bring them home.
Until the fates of the men like the UH1C crew are known, their families will
wonder if they are dead or alive .. and why they were deserted.

=====================
NEWS RELEASES from the United States Department of Defense

The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced
today that the remains of three U.S. servicemen, missing in action from the
Vietnam War, have been identified and returned to their families for burial
with full military honors.

They are Capt. Herbert C. Crosby, of Donalsonville, Ga.; Sgt. 1st Class
Wayne C. Allen, of Tewksbury, Mass.; and Sgt. 1st Class Francis G.
Graziosi, of Rochester, N.Y.; all U.S. Army.Burial dates and locations are
being set by their families.

Representatives from the Army met with the next-of-kin of these men to
explain the recovery and identification process, and to coordinate
interment with military honors on behalf of the Secretary of the Army.

On Jan. 10, 1970, these men were returning to their base at Chu Lai, South
Vietnam aboard a UH-1C Huey helicopter. Due to bad weather, their
helicopter went down over Quang Nam Province.A search was initiated for the
crew, but no sign of the helicopter or crew was spotted.

In 1989, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (S.R.V.) gave to U.S.
specialists 25 boxes containing the remains of the U.S. servicemen related
to this incident.Later that year, additional remains and Crosby's
identification tag were obtained from a Vietnamese refugee.

Between 1993 and 1999, joint U.S./S.R.V. teams, led by the Joint POW/MIA
Accounting Command (JPAC), conducted three investigations in Ho Chi Minh
City and two investigations in Quang Nam-Da Nang Province (formerly Quang
Nam Province).A Vietnamese informant in Ho Chi Minh City told the team he
knew where the remains of as many as nine American servicemen were
buried.He agreed to lead the team to the burial site.In 1994, the team
excavated the site and recovered a metal box and several bags containing
human remains, including those of these three soldiers.

Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence,
scientists from JPAC and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory
also used mitochondrial DNA and dental comparisons in the identification of
the remains.

For additional information on the Defense Department's mission to account
for missing Americans, visit the DPMO Web site at http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo/
or call (703) 699-1169.

SFC FRANCIS GEORGE GRAZIOSI

Return to Service Member Profiles

Conflict
Service
Status
Date of Accounting

VIETNAM WAR
UNITED STATES ARMY
Accounted For
12/06/2006

On December 6, 2006, the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC, now DPAA) identified the remains of Sergeant First Class Francis George Graziosi, missing from the Vietnam War.

Sergeant First Class Graziosi joined the U.S. Army from New York and was a member of the 178th Aviation Company, 14th Battalion, 16th Aviation Group, 1st Aviation Division. On January 10, 1970, he was the door gunner aboard a UH-1C Iroquois carrying three other crew members on a return flight to their base at Chu Lai, Vietnam. Inclement weather caused the helicopter to crash in Quang Nam Province, and SFC Graziosi and the rest of the crew were killed in the incident. Immediate search efforts were unable to locate the helicopter's crash site. However, in 1994, a local informant led a joint U.S./Vietnamese search team to a burial site in Quang Nam Province. Excavations of the site found several sets of remains, including those of the UH-1C's crew. In 2006, modern forensic techniques allowed for the identification of SFC Graziosi among the remains recovered.

Sergeant First Class Graziosi is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

If you are a family member of this serviceman, you may contact your casualty office representative to learn more about your service member.

SFC FRANCIS GEORGE GRAZIOSI

Unit 178 AV CO 14 AVN BN 16 AVGP 1A
Historical Country of Loss
South Vietnam
Current Country of Loss
VIETNAM
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