Dear Maurizio,

Mike and I were friends at Marble Mountain Air Facility. We both worked in the HMM-265 squadron Avionics shop and would drink together at the enlisted men's club. We were both flying as door gunners at the time that he was killed.

His death hit me quite hard especially since I was originally scheduled to be the door gunner on his aircraft that day but our assignments were changed and he took my place on the flight and his aircraft was shot down by enemy ground fire later that day.

I know that both the pilot (Capt Himmler) and the co-pilot (1st Lt Lammers) were killed along with Mike. I believe that the Crew Chief may have survived the crash but I do not remember who he was or if he was injured. Someone else at PopASmoke may be able to identify who he was, if he is still alive and how to contact him. If so, he may be able to give you more information about what occurred that day.

I was the door gunner on the aircraft that was involved with the recovery of the remains of his crew a day or two after they were shot down. The aircraft had crashed in a ravine to the southwest of Da Nang and was severally burned as were the bodies of the crew. But we were able to recover all of the remains after a Marine ground unit was able to get to the aircraft and they loaded the remains on to our aircraft. All of the bodies were in body bags so I had no idea how they physically looked. We then transported them to the proper authorities in Da Nang for return to the United States.

It was a rough assignment and one that I didn't have to be involved in but that one time.

I do remember that the men in the avionics shop would refer to Mike as "A to Z" rather than Alberici. It was one of those nickname things.

I do not have any photographs of Mike but someone who has a HMM-265 1968 squadron yearbook may be able to help you and make a copy of his photograph if one exists in the book. Unfortunately, I do not possess that particular yearbook or I would help you.

I hope that this small bit of information helps you in some way to understand what happened to your father. I was proud to serve with him in the service of our counrty as a United States Marine.

Yours truely and Semper Fidelis,

Fred Pfeiffer