HAMILTON, DENNIS CLARK

Remains ID announced 08/06/07

Name: Dennis Clark Hamilton
Rank/Branch: WO/US Army
Unit: 176th Aviation Company, 14th Aviation Battalion, 23rd Infantry Division
(Americal)
Date of Birth: 04 May 1946 (Oscaloosa IA)
Home City of Record: Barnes City IA
Date of Loss: 05 January 1968
Country of Loss: Laos
Loss Coordinates: 161907N 1063445E (XD701021)
Status (in 1973): Missing In Action
Category: 4
Acft/Vehicle/Ground: UH1D
Refno: 0967

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: James Williamson; John T. Gallagher; Ernest F.
Briggs; Sheldon D. Schultz (all missing); (indigenous team members, names,
numbers, fates unknown)

REMARKS: NO SIGN OF CREW

SYNOPSIS: On January 5, 1968, WO Dennis C. Hamilton, aircraft commander; WO
Sheldon D. Schultz, pilot; SP5 Ernest F. Briggs, Jr., crew chief; SP4 James
P. Williamson, crewman, and SSgt. John T. Gallagher, passenger; were aboard
a UH1D helicopter (tail # 66-1172) on a mission to infiltrate an indigenous
reconnaissance patrol into Laos.

The reconnaissance patrol and SSgt. Gallagher were operating under orders to
Command & Control North, MACV-SOG (Military Assistance Command, Vietnam
Studies and Observation Group). MACV-SOG was a joint service high command
unconventional warfare task force engaged in highly classified operations
throughout Southeast Asia. The 5th Special Forces channeled personnel into
MACV-SOG (although it was not a Special Forces group) through Special
Operations Augmentation (SOA), which provided their "cover" while under
secret orders to MACV-SOG. The teams performed deep penetration missions of
strategic reconnaissance and interdiction which were called, depending on
the time frame, "Shining Brass" or "Prairie Fire" missions.

As the aircraft approached the landing zone about 20 miles inside Laos south
of Lao Bao, it came under heavy 37mm anti-aircraft fire while at an altitude
of about 300 feet above ground level. The aircraft immediately entered a
nose-low vertical dive and crashed.

Upon impact with the ground, the aircraft burst into flames which were 10 to
20 feet high. No radio transmissions were heard during the helicopter's
descent, nor were radio or beeper signals heard after impact. Four attempts
to get into the area of the downed helicopter failed due to intense ground
fire.

During the next two days more attempts to get to the wreckage failed. The
pilot of one search helicopter maneuvered to within 75 feet of the crash
site before being forced out by enemy fire. The pilot who saw the wreckage
stated that the crashed helicopter was a mass of burned metal and that there
was no part of the aircraft that could be recognized. No signs of life were
seen in the crash area.

Weather delayed further search attempts for a couple of days. After the
weather improved, the successful insertion of a ground team was made east of
the crash site to avoid enemy fire. The team was extracted after the second
day, finding nothing. The crash site was located near the city of Muong Nong
in Savannakhet Province, Laos.

Nearly 600 Americans were lost in Laos. The Pathet Lao insisted that the
"tens of tens" of Americans they held would only be released from Laos, but
the U.S. did not officially recognize the communist faction in Laos and did
not negotiate for American prisoners being held by them. Not one American
held by the Lao was ever released.

Alarmingly, evidence continues to mount that Americans were left as
prisoners in Southeast Asia and continue to be held today. Unlike "MIAs"
from other wars, most of the nearly 2500 men and women who remain missing in
Southeast Asia can be accounted for. Perhaps the crew of the helicopter did
not survive the crash, but until there is positive proof of their deaths, we
cannot forget them. If even one was left behind at the end of the war,
alive, (and many authorities estimate the numbers to be in the hundreds), we
have failed as a nation until and unless we do everything possible to secure
his freedom and bring him home.

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NEWS RELEASES from the United States Department of Defense

No. 970-07 IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 06, 2007
Media Contact: (703) 697-5131/697-5132
Public/Industry(703) 428-0711

Soldiers Mia From Vietnam War Are Accounted For

The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced
today that group remains of five U.S. servicemen, missing in action from
the Vietnam War, will be returned to their families soon for burial with
full military honors.

They are Chief Warrant Officer Dennis C. Hamilton, of Barnes City, Iowa;
Chief Warrant Officer Sheldon D. Schultz, of Altoona, Pa.; Sgt. 1st Class
Ernest F. Briggs Jr., of San Antonio, Texas; Sgt. 1st Class John T.
Gallagher, of Hamden, Conn.; and Sgt. 1st Class James D. Williamson, of
Olympia, Wash.; all U.S. Army.The group remains of this crew will be buried
on Aug. 14 at Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C. Gallagher's
remains were individually identified, and his burial date is being set by
his family.

Representatives from the Army met with the next-of-kin of these men to
explain the recovery and identification process, and to coordinate interment
with military honors on behalf of the Secretary of the Army.

On Jan. 5, 1968, these men crewed a UH-1D helicopter that was inserting a
patrol into Savannakhet Province, Laos.As the aircraft approached the
landing zone, it was struck by enemy ground fire, causing it to nose over
and crash.There were no survivors.All attempts to reach the site over the
next several days were repulsed by enemy fire.

Between 1995 and 2006, numerous U.S./Lao People's Democratic Republic
/Socialist Republic of Vietnam teams, all led by the Joint POW/MIA
Accounting Command (JPAC), conducted more than five investigations,
including interviews with Vietnamese citizens who said they witnessed the
crash.Between 2002 and 2006, JPAC led three excavations of the site,
recovering remains and other material evidence including identification
tags for Schultz, Hamilton and Briggs.

Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence,
scientists from JPAC also used dental comparisons in the identification of
the remains.

For additional information on the Defense Department's mission to account
for missing Americans, visit the DPMO Web site at http:// www.dtic.mil/dpmo
or call (703) 699-1169.

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01/2020

https://dpaa.secure.force.com/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt000000oMalvEAC

CW3 DENNIS CLARK HAMILTON

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On November 13, 2006, the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC, now DPAA) identified the remains of Chief Warrant Officer 3 Dennis Clark Hamilton, missing from the Vietnam War.

Chief Warrant Officer 3 Hamilton entered the U.S. Army from Iowa and served with the 176th Aviation Company, 14th Aviation Battalion, Americal Division. On January 5, 1968, he was the commander of a UH-1D Iroquois (tail number 66-1172) on a mission to insert reconnaissance patrol members into Savannakhet Province, Laos. As the helicopter approached the landing zone, it was struck by enemy ground fire, causing it to nose over and crash, killing CW3 Hamilton. All attempts to reach the site over the next several days were repulsed by enemy fire, and his remains could not be recovered at the time. Between 2002 and 2006, investigators excavated the crash site in Laos and recovered human remains that were identified as CW3 Hamilton.

Chief Warrant Officer 3 Hamilton is memorialized in the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

If you are a family member of this serviceman, you may contact your casualty office representative to learn more about your service member.