Marine Corps 1st Lt. Stanley Johnson, missing from the Vietnam War, has now been accounted for.
On Dec. 3, 1965, Johnson was the co-pilot of an UH-34D helicopter assigned to Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 364, Marine Aircraft Group 36, 1st Marine Aircraft Wing, tasked to insert Army of the Republic of Viet Nam troops into South Vietnam. Johnson’s aircraft, with three other Americans and nine Vietnamese soldiers onboard, was hit by enemy fire. At 100 to 200 feet above the ground with the entire cargo compartment in flames, the helicopter lost one of its main rotor blades, and crashed approximately 30 kilometers west of Tam Ky Town. Everyone onboard the aircraft was killed in the crash.
Between 1993 and 2008, joint U.S./Socialist Republic of Vietnam (S.R.V.) teams traveled to the area and conducted investigations which resulted in multiple excavations at the incident crash site and possible burial locations.
Lab analysis, in conjunction with the totality of circumstantial evidence available, established Johnson’s remains were included.
Interment services are pending.
Welcome home and rest in peace, 1st Lt. Johnson.