MAGERS, PAUL GERALD

Name: Paul Gerald Magers
Rank/Branch: O2/US Army
Unit: 158th Aviation Battalion, 160th Aviation Group, 101st Airborne
Division
Date of Birth: 20 June 1945 (Denver CO)
Home City of Record: Sidney NE
Date of Loss: 01 June 1971
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 164107N 1064423E (XD855454)
Status (in 1973): Killed/Body Not Recovered
Category: 2
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: AH1G
Refno: 1752

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.

Other Personnel in Incident: Donald L. Wann (missing)

REMARKS:

SYNOPSIS: On June 1, 1971, 1Lt. Paul Magers, pilot and CW2 Donald L. Wann,
aircraft commander, were aboard an AH1G Cobra gunship (serial #68-15002) on
a mission in northwest Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, about 5 miles
south of the demilitarized zone (DMZ). Another helicopter had just
successfully extracted a Ranger team from a landing zone, and Magers'
gunship was to destroy some ammunition that had been in the area.

CW2 Wann started his rocket pass at about 1500 feet above the ground, and at
about 40 feet, before commencing fire, the aircraft was hit by anti-aircraft
fire. Witnesses saw a tracer round hit the underside and the tail section of
the helicopter and saw fire from escaping fuel. The aircraft nosed up,
gaining from 100-150 feet in altitude, then lost air speed. The aircraft
appeared to shudder as it started a vertical right descending turn in
flames.

As the aircraft fell in a spiral pattern, 6 calls were made by CW2 Wann on
both FM and UHF radio. None of the calls was answered. The aircraft crashed
and slid down a steep hill some 100 feet. All witnesses stated that the
crash was non-survivable. According to witnesses, Magers and Wann are almost
certainly dead. Magers and Wann were declared dead, body not recovered. They
are listed with honor among the missing because their bodies have not been
returned to their homelands for burial.

It is painful to think of the fear that Magers and Wann must have
experienced as their crippled helicopter spiralled to the earth, and they
made their futile radio requests for assistance. As painful as this thought
is, however, it is more painful to think of the tortured deaths of others of
the missing who were captured and killed inch by inch, day by day.

More painful still is the thought of the hundreds of Americans many
authorities believe are still alive in Southeast Asian prisons. What must
they be thinking of their country? There can be no greater agony than that
of abandonment.