GRAZIOSI, FRANCIS GEORGE

Name: Francis George Graziosi
Rank/Branch: E4/US Army
Unit: 71st Aviation Company, 14th Aviation Battalion, 16th Aviation Group, 23rd
Infantry Division (Americal), Chu Lai, South Vietnam
Date of Birth: 10 January 1951
Home City of Record: Rochester NY
Date of Loss: 10 January 1970
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 152927N 1081808E (BT239141)
Status (in 1973): Missing In Action
Category: 4
Acft/Vehicle/Ground: UH1C
Refno: 1547

Other Personnel In Incident: George A. Howes; Wayne C. Allen; Herbert C.
Crosby (all missing)

Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 01 April 1991 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 1998.

REMARKS:

SYNOPSIS: On January 10, 1970, Capt. Herbert C. Crosby, pilot; WO George A.
Howes, co-pilot; SP5 Wayne C. Allen, crew chief; and SP4 Francis G.
Graziosi, door gunner; were flying a UH1C helicopter (serial #66-739) as the
flight lead in a flight of three helicopters returning from Tien Phuoc to
the unit base at Chu Lai, South Vietnam.

(Note: Records differs as to the aircraft type on this incident. Some
records show the aircraft type this crew was flying as UH1H, and some show
it as a UH1C. Herbert Crosby flew Charlie models every day from at least
July 1969 to January 1970. The serial number, #66-739 correlates to a C
model, the first two numbers indicating that the aircraft had been made in
1966, and the H model only had come out a few months before this time.
Although C models were gunships, and usually flew more or less
independently, while this aircraft was flying in tight formation as flight
lead, which would correlate with the H model, it has been confirmed that the
ship on which this crew was flying was definitely a Charlie model.)

At 1300 hours, the three helicopters departed Tien Phuoc. Five to ten
minutes later, due to instrument flight rules, Capt. Crosby directed the
flight to change to a different flight heading. When the helicopters changed
frequencies to contact Chu Lai ground control approach, radio contact was
lost with Capt. Crosby and was not regained.

The other two aircraft reached Chu Lai heliport, and at 1400 hours, serach
efforts were begun for the missing aircraft, although the crew was not
found.

According to a 1974 National League of Families report, George Howes
survived the crash of this helicopter. The report further maintains that the
loss occurred in Laos, although the coordinates place it some 40-odd miles
from that country.

A North Vietnamese prisoner released later reported that he had seen Howes
in captivity the same month the helicopter went down. A second sighting by a
villager in Phuoc Chouc (or Phouc Chau) village reported Howes and two other
POWs stopped for water at his house in February, 1970, en route to Laos.
Whether these reports also relate to Allen, Crosby and Graziosi, is unknown.

When the last American troops left Southeast Asia in 1975, some 2500
Americans were unaccounted for. Reports received by the U.S.Government since
that time build a strong case for belief that hundreds of these "unaccounted
for" Americans are still alive and in captivity.

"Unaccounted for" is a term that should apply to numbers, not men. We, as a
nation, owe these men our best effort to find them and bring them home.
Until the fates of the men like the UH1C crew are known, their families will
wonder if they are dead or alive .. and why they were deserted.

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