KENNEDY, JAMES EDWARD

Name: James Edward Kennedy
Rank/Branch: SP4/US Army
Unit: 57th Aviation Company, 52nd Aviation Battalion, 17th Aviation Group
Date of Birth: 02 January 1950 (Woodbury NJ)
Home City of Record: Pine Hill NJ
Date of Loss: 22 December 1969
Country of Loss: Laos (some records say Cambodia)
Loss Coordinates: 152029N 1072941E (YA678975)
Status (in 1973): Missing In Action
Category: 2
Acft/Vehicle/Ground: UH1C
Refno: 1539

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.

Others In Incident: Donald D. Burris (missing); Timothy A. Purser, John H.
Hunsicker (rescued)

REMARKS:

SYNOPSIS: On December 22, 1969 SP4 James E. Kennedy, door gunner; WO Donald
D. Burris Jr., pilot; WO John H. Hunsicker, aircraft commander; and SP5
Timothy A. Purser, crew chief; were the crew of a UH1C helicopter (serial
#66-00587) on a combat support mission when it developed mechanical problems
and crashed landed.

Official records differ as to the location of the crash. U.S. Army casualty
and Joint Casualty Resolution Center records indicate that the crash was in
Cambodia, yet Defense Department, State Department and other records
indicate that the crash occurred near the border of Attopeu and Saravane
Provinces in Laos, some 30-35 miles north of the closest point in Cambodia.
Coordinates 152029N 1972941E are that location. The locality of YA678975 is
undoubtedly Cambodia. It is possible that their combat support mission was
in Cambodia, and the subsequent rescue flight took a circular northwesterly
course around the mountains in northern Cambodia along the Laos border,
circled back east towards Dak To (its destination), and that some records
pinpoint the actual location of loss at the beginning of the flight, while
others record it during flight.

Regardless, when the aircraft landed, Burris, Purser and Hunsicker had
survived the crash, but they could not locate the door gunner, James
Kennedy. WO Hunsicker and WO Burris escaped therough the left cargo door
uninjured. They found the crew chief (Purser), who had also scrambled free
of the wreckage. He had a broken arm. A search of the general area around
the crashed helicopter revealed no trace of SP4 Kennedy, and he was not
trapped in the wreckage. (As door gunner, and at a position on the side of
the main cargo area of the aircraft positioned at an open door, Kennedy may
have decided to bail out of the descending aircraft, or may have fallen, -
although the gunners were generally strapped in to the frame of the
helicopter so this seems unlikely - thus becoming separated from the
others.)

Minutes after the helicopter crashed, a recovery helicopter arrived in the
area and lowered ropes with McGuire rigs attached through the dense jungle
to the downed men. The survivors were not trained in the proper use of this
equipment, and SP5 Purser fell out of his rig a few feet off the ground. WO
Burris and WO Hunsicker remained in their rigs and were lifted out, and the
helicopter started toward Dak To, with the two rescued men still on the
ropes. Five minutes into the flight, Burris lost his grip on the rope and
fell from an altitude of from 2500 to 3000 feet. The rescue helicopter
continued to the nearest landing area.

A search and rescue team was inserted into the crash site area and recovered
Purser, who was injured. The team searched widely for SP4 Kennedy, but found
no trace of him, and concluded their search on December 25. No search was
made for Burris because of the lack of positive information to pinpoint his
loss site and the hostile threat in the area.

Burris and Kennedy are two of nearly 2500 Americans who did not return from
Southeast Asia at the end of American involvement there, including nearly
600 in Laos. The Pathet Lao publicly stated they held many American
prisoners, but not a single American serviceman held in Laos was ever
released. In Cambodia, there were substantially fewer missing than in Laos
or Vietnam. Cambodia has publicly offered to return the bodies of a number
of American servicemen to the U.S. (in fact, MORE bodies than are officially
listed as lost there...), but the U.S. has no diplomatic relations with
Cambodia, and will not acknowledge the offer officially. The U.S. is
unusually silent on the matter of men lost in Laos and Cambodia.

At the end of the war, military officials expressed their shock and anger
that only 591 Americans were released when hundreds more were expected. Word
of Americans still held captive has continually come in. At the end of 1988,
a U.S. Government report stated that the U.S. has conducted "over 250,000"
interviews and analyzed "millions of documents", yet still maintains no
proof exists that Americans are still held.

Meanwhile the Burris and Kennedy families wonder if they will ever know what
happened to their men - if they are alive - or if they are dead.

 

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SSG JAMES EDWARD KENNEDY

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On December 22, 1969, an UH-1C Iroquois (tail number 66-00587) carrying four crew members was on a combat support mission over Cambodia. During the mission, the Iroquois crashed and burned in Ratanakiri Province, in the vicinity of (GC) YA 678 975. The aircraft commander, pilot, and crew chief escaped from the wreck and searched the crash site and surrounding area, but found no trace of the door gunner. Shortly after the crash, a rescue helicopter arrived and lowered ropes with recovery rigs for the three survivors. While being hoisted to the helicopter, the crew chief and the pilot fell from the rigs back to the ground and could not be recovered at the time. The rescue helicopter departed with aircraft commander it had successfully retrieved, and another rescue team was later sent to the crash site to search for the crew chief and pilot who fell from their rigs and the door gunner who remained missing after the crash. They succeeded in recovering the crew chief, but could not locate the pilot or door gunner. Further search efforts were not possible due to the enemy presence in the area. The pilot and door gunner from the Iroquois' crew remain unaccounted for.

Specialist Four James Edward Kennedy entered the U.S. Army from New Jersey and was a member of the 57th Aviation Company, 17th Aviation Group, 1st Aviation Brigade. He was the door gunner aboard this Iroquois when it crashed, and could not be found by the other three crew members following the crash. Further attempts to recover his remains have been unsuccessful. Subsequent to the incident, and while carried in the status of missing in action (MIA), the U.S. Army promoted Specialist Four Kennedy to the rank of Staff Sergeant (SSG). Today, Staff Sergeant Kennedy 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.

If you are a family member of this serviceman, DPAA can provide you with additional information and analysis of your case. Please contact your casualty office representative.

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