GUNN, ALAN WENDELL
Name: Alan Wendell Gunn
Rank/Branch: W2/US Army
Unit: 50th Medical Detachment, 43rd Medical Group, 44th Medical Brigade
Date of Birth: 28 May 1948 (Watt OK)
Home City of Record: San Antonio TX
Date of Loss: 12 February 1968
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 121721N 1074713E (ZU030600)
Status (in 1973): Missing In Action
Category: 4
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: UH1H
Refno: 1046
Other Personnel In Incident: Wade L. Groth, Harry Brown, Jerry L. Roe (all
missing)
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:
SYNOPSIS: On February 12, 1968, SP5 Harry Brown, medic; 1Lt. Jerry Roe,
aircraft commander; WO Alan Gunn, pilot; and SP4 Wade Groth, crewchief, were
flying a UH1H (tail #66-17027) dispatched on a night medical evacuation
mission (dustoff). Dustoff 90 departed Ban Me Thuot, South Vietnam for Gia
Nghai Special Forces camp.
As U.S. Air Force Tactical Control Radar operators at Ban Me Thuot tracked
the flight, the blip that was the UH1H dustoff chopper disappeared from the
screen at 2019 hours. The helicopter apparently went down 20 minutes
outbound from its base in a mountainous region of Quang Duc Province.
An Army Infantry unit searched the apparent crash site near the Cambodian
border for 36 hours, but found neither the helicopter nor its crew. Snipers
were not known to be in the area, and it is not believed the helicopter was
shot down, according to an Army report, indicating possible mechanical
trouble.
In April 1969, CIA was asked to analyze the positive identifications made by
a rallier of a number of photographs of missing Americans. The rallier
selected the photos of both Harry Brown and Jerry Roe as two men he believed
to have been prisoners of war. CIA could not determine why the source
selected them.
In 1979, Sean O'Toolis, an Irish-American, was touring Bong Song Camp, 40
miles south of Hanoi, on an IRA gun-buying mission, when he alleges he met
and spoke with American prisoners, Brendon Foley and Wade Groth, a prison
workmate of Foley's. He also claims to have talked to men named MacDonald,
Jenning and an O'Hare or O'Hara. He brought a message to Foley's brother and
fingerprints of Foley and O'Hara. He identified old photos of Groth, and
gave believable descriptions of Foley and Groth. Neither family knows
whether or not to believe O'Toolis, as much of his account of his travels
seems incorrect.
Whether the four men aboard the dustoff lost on February 12, 1968 survived
to be captured is unknown. The coincidence of two separate sources
identifying three members of the crew seems to strong to ignore. The U.S.
Government does not believe there is any substance to these reports. Based
on thousands of still-classified sighting reports, many experts believe
hundreds of Americans did survive, and are still alive, waiting to be
brought home. If even one is alive, he must be brought home.
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