GILLESPIE, JOHN FRANCIS
Remains Returned 12/2007
Name: John Francis Gillespie
Branch/Rank: United States Navy/E3
Unit:8FD AMP
Date of Birth:
Home City of Record: Australia
Date of Loss:17 April 1971
Country of Loss: Nouth Vietnam
Loss Coordinates:
Status (in 1973): MIA/BB
Category:
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: UH1D 3170244
Missions:
Refno: 1741
Other Personnel in Incident: See below
Source: Compiled by P.O.W. NETWORK with information provided by Bruce S. and
from data from U.S. Government agency sources. Edited 2007.
REMARKS:
Synopsis:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear Sir,
I am an Australian Vietnam Veteran and while reading through your site I
came across the name of a friend of mine:
JOHN FRANCIS GILLESPIE Dated 17th APR 71
John Gillespie was a medic on a RAAF helicopter which was shot down over the
Long Hai hills in the Australian Army area of operations in Phuoc Tuy
province.
The chopper was hit and l/cpl Gillespie was hit in the chest and when the
aircraft went down he was trapped in the wreckage. The other crew members
were unable to free him from the wreckage and his body was totally
destroyed.
The name is the same and the date is the same so I would presume the man on
your list is the Australian John Francis Gillespie. The Australian JFG is
among only six Australians from that conflict listed as MIA and all have
subsequently been changed to KIA.
I hope this will clear your records up. Great site by the way.
Cheers Bruce S
============================
NATIONAL NEWS
COURIER MAIL (AUS)
Army to search for Vietnam soldier
Nick Papps
27mar04
A SEARCH is to be launched for an Australian soldier missing in action from
the Vietnam War.
The US Army will lead the search after a team of Australian Vietnam veteran
investigators found helicopter wreckage in dense bushland in southern
Vietnam....
=================================
Two buried at site of Vietnam action
December 5, 2005 - 11:58AM
....Retired Lieutenant Colonel Jim Bourke, who has headed a team seeking the
graves of Lance Corporal Richard "Tiny" Parker, 24, and Private Peter
Gillson, 20, said his team had interviewed a former Viet Cong soldier who
participated in the action in which the two men died.....
---------------
http://www.awm.gov.au/database/roh.asp?surname=gillespie&conflict=VN
Gillespie, J F
Number: 3170244
Rank: Lance Corporal [L Cpl]
Unit: 8 Fd AMB (RAAMC)
Service: Army
Conflict: Vietnam, 1962-1972
Date of Death: 17/04/1971
Place of Death: South Vietnam
Cause of Death: Killed In Action
Memorial Panel: 5
Cemetery or Memorial Details:
Next Of Kin: Wife - Mrs C P Gillespie
Notes:
Source: AWM153 Roll of Honour cards, Vietnam
RA
===============================
Townsville Bulletin (Australia)
August 30, 2006
Hope to get vets home
THE bodies of two 1RAR soldiers killed in Vietnam more than 40 years ago
could finally be coming home.
Jim Bourke, a former Ayr resident and the man charged with leading a
recovery mission to find the men, is tipping a better-than-even chance
their bodies will be found.....
====================
Australian
December 18, 2007
Digger makes final journey
THIRTY-SIX years after he fell in combat in Vietnam , the body of Lance
Corporal John
Francis Gillespie was finally returned to Australia yesterday.
Arms wrapped around each other, Gillespie's widow Carmel Hendrie and daughter
Fiona
Pike paid a tearful tribute to the army medic at Hanoi International
Airport last night before
his casket was carried on to a waiting military plane
for the journey to Melbourne......
==================================
Herald Sun (Australia)
December 18, 2007
A lost brother finally returns
Neil Wilson
CHRISTINE Gillespie journeyed back to her childhood's Catholic church in
Huntingdale yesterday
but her mind was much further away -- in Vietnam .
From there her brother John yesterday began his final journey home, 36
years after being
killed in combat.....