Three US Soldiers lost in Vietnam War laid to rest 42 years after crash

Photo By Spc. Brandon Dyer | Soldiers of the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard) conduct a full military honors burial for Army Maj. Dale W. Richardson, 28, of Mount Sterling, Ill.; Staff Sgt. Bunyan D. Price Jr., 20, of Monroe, N.C.; and Sgt. Rodney L. Griffin, 21, of Mexico, Mo., buried within a single casket of group remains Oct. 20, 2015, in Arlington National Cemetery. The three Soldiers went missing in Vietnam when their UH-1H Iroquois (Huey) helicopter was shot down after being diverted by bad weather to Cambodian airspace. Richardson, Price, and Griffin died at the site of the crash during a firefight with enemy forces. All three soldiers were identified by circumstantial evidence and forensic identification tools, to include mitochondrial DNA, matched with their siblings. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Brandon C. Dyer)  

JOINT BASE MYER-HENDERSON HALL, VA, UNITED STATES

10.21.2015

Courtesy Story

Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall

JOINT BASE MYER-HENDERSON HALL, Va. - Three U.S. Army Soldiers, Maj. Dale W. Richardson, 28, of Mount Sterling, Ill.; Staff Sgt. Bunyan D. Price Jr., 20, of Monroe, N.C.; and Sgt. Rodney L. Griffin, 21, of Mexico, Mo., were buried with full military honors in Arlington National Cemetery, Oct. 20.

The Soldiers were missing since the Vietnam War and were identified by the Department of Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) using circumstantial evidence and forensic identification tools, including mitochondrial DNA, matched with their siblings.

Richardson, Price and Griffin, all assigned to 2nd Battalion, 34th Armor Regiment, 25th Infantry Division, were passengers aboard an UH-1H Iroquois (Huey) helicopter that was enroute to Fire Support Base Katum, South Vietnam, when it was diverted due to bad weather.

After flying into Cambodian airspace, the aircraft came under heavy enemy ground fire, causing the pilot to make an emergency landing in Kampong Cham Province, Cambodia.

Richardson, Price, and Griffin died at the site of the crash during a firefight with enemy forces. Their remains were not immediately recovered.

The Huey’s four crewmen and its four passengers survived the landing.

One crewman was able to evade being captured by enemy forces and later returned to friendly lines.

The other three crewmen and one passenger were captured. The Vietnamese released two of the captured crewmen in 1973, and the remains of the other two captured men were returned to U.S. control in the 1980s and identified.

After a 20-year joint investigation by the U.S. and the Kingdom of Cambodia (K.O.C.), the human remains and military gear were recovered from a single grave.

The group remains representing the crew are being laid to rest by the 3d. U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard).

Today there are 1,626 American service members still unaccounted for from the Vietnam War.

• Date Taken: 10.21.2015
• Date Posted: 10.28.2015 17:37
• Story ID: 180226
• Location: JOINT BASE MYER-HENDERSON HALL, VA, US
• Hometown: MEXICO, MO, US
• Hometown: MONROE, NC, US
• Hometown: MOUNT STERLING, MO, US