SCHULTZ, RONALD JAMES

Name: Ronald James Schultz
Rank/Branch: E3/US Army
Unit: HHC, 1st Battalion, 506th Infantry, 101st Airborne Division
Date of Birth: 27 May 1948
Home City of Record: Hillsboro KS
Date of Loss: 21 July 1970
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 162634N 1071334E (YD376191)
Status (in 1973): Missing In Action
Category: 4
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: Ground
Refno: 1649

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.

Other Personnel in Incident: (none missing)

REMARKS:

SYNOPSIS: On July 21, 1970, SP4 Ronald J. Schultz was a member of a unit
from the 101st Airborne Division that came under intense enemy fire while
helping load wounded and casualties from a battle area. Schultz was a senior
medical specialist and had been in Vietnam 9 months.

SP4 Schultz was slightly wounded and was scheduled to be medically
evacuated. As the "dust-off" chopper approached the LZ it began receiving
automatic weapons fire, and only two persons could be loaded before the
helicopter made an emergency takeoff.

SP4 Schultz panicked when he could not board the helicopter and grabbed the
right landing skid. The aircraft then climbed to an estimated altitude of
300 feet when members of the unit saw him lose his hold and fall into the
jungle. Due to the enemy situation, no search parties were able to get to
the area where he fell.

Schultz' family has long ago given up hope that he will return to them
alive. They don't know for sure, but believe he was killed when he fell from
the skid of the dust-off that day in July. They hope he was. To imagine his
being a prisoner for nearly 20 years is unbearable.

Schultz is one of nearly 2500 Americans still prisoner, missing or
unaccounted for in Southeast Asia. As reports flow in relating to missing
Americans, families reflect with new agony of the fates of their sons and
brothers. By some miracle, if SP4 Schultz survived the fall from his
helicopter, he could be one of those said to be alive. What must he think of
his country?

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02/2020

https://dpaa.secure.force.com/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt00000001UH9EAM

SFC RONALD JAMES SCHULTZ

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Private First Class Ronald James Schultz entered the U.S. Army from Kansas and served with the Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. On July 21, 1970, his unit was operating in Thua Thien Province, South Vietnam, when they were attacked by enemy forces. Private First Class Schultz was wounded in the fighting and moved to a landing zone for medical evacuation (Medevac). As the Medevac helicopter arrived at the landing zone, it came under automatic weapons fire and had to make an emergency takeoff after only two men had been loaded. Private First Class Schultz grabbed the landing skid of the helicopter as it took off, and was carried into the air but soon lost his grip. He fell several hundred feet into the jungle below in the vicinity of (GC) YD 376 191. Due to enemy forces in the area, a search could not be conducted in the area where he fell. He was not recovered and remains unaccounted for. After the incident, the Army posthumously promoted PFC Schultz to the rank of Sergeant First Class (SFC). Today, Sergeant First Class Schultz 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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