DENNIS, MARK V.

Name: Mark V. Dennis
Rank/Branch: HM3/USN
Unit:
Date of Birth:
Home City of Record: OH
Loss Date: 15 July 1966
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates:(unknown) Dong Ha
Status (In 1973): Killed In Action
Acft/Vehicle/Ground: CH46 Helicopter
Other Personnel In Incident:

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 1998.

REMARKS: Not on official Missing lists

SYNOPSIS: Hospitalman Mark Dennis was a Navy medic aboard a Chinook
helicopter when it was shot down on July 15, 1966. All men on board
were declared Killed In Action. Three and a half weeks later, a casket
arrived in Ohio and was buried. In November, 1970, an issue of News-
week carried a photograph of an "unknown POW" which his brother felt was
MARK DENNIS. That, combined with an earlier report from the Navy, that
"a couple of men could have gotten out of the helicopter" sparked Mark's
brother to travel to Paris, Bangkok and Vietnam in search of the truth.

The remains proported to be those of Mark Dennis were exhumed, and
exaustive tests made. The results proved to Mark's family beyond a
shadow of a doubt that they DID NOT BURY MARK DENNIS, but someone else,
unknown to them. Mark's family continues to actively pursue answers to
their question, "Where is Mark Dennis?"


BAMBOO CAGE - by Nigel Cawthorn
Page 225

.... This was not the first time errors have come to light. During the war
itself grave doubts arose over the army's identification methods. The family
of Navy corpsman Mark V. Dennis were told that he had been killed in a
helicopter crash in 1966. Remains were identified and returned to the family
who buried them. But in 1970, Jerry Dennis saw a picture of his brother in
Newsweek magazine alive in North Vietnam. The picture was captioned:
'Unidentified PoW.'

The body was exhumed and examined. The bones belonged to someone 5 foot 3
inches. Mark Dennis was 5 feet 11 inches tall. The remains only had one tooth,
number 14 in the upper jaw. Dental records show that Mark Dennis had had this
tooth removed a year before the crash. (5)

The dog tags returned with the body were also found to be fake; they did not
even carry Dennis's correct religious denomination. In 1972, the Navy admitted
that no dog tags had been found at the sight of the crash. But they still did
not admit that they had got it wrong over the corpse itself. Despite the
inconsistencies, they maintain that Mark Dennis was the only individual at the
scene of the helicopter crash on 15 July, 1966, who was not subsequently
accounted for and that this was the only body pulled from the wreckage that
was not positively identified. (6)

Because the Dennis family accepted the remains, they are not allowed to return
them. And despite the Newsweek picture, Mark Dennis was never listed MIA or as
a prisoner of war....

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