RICKMAN, DWIGHT GRAY
Name: Dwight Gray Rickman
Rank/Branch: O2/US Marine Corps
Unit: SU1, 1 ANGLICO
Date of Birth: 04 January 1947
Home City of Record: Joplin MO
Date of Loss: 25 December 1972
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 164913N 1071011E (YD312607)
Status (in 1973): Missing in Action
Category: 4
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: O1
Refno: 1970
Other Personnel in Incident: (Vietnamese observer - missing)
Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 01 July 1990 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: BURIED AT CRASH W/VIET OBSERVER
SYNOPSIS: The O1 "Bird Dog" was used extensively in the early years of the
war in Vietnam by forward air controllers and provided low, close visual
reconnaissance and target marking which enabled armed aircraft or ground
troops to close in on a target. The Bird Dog was feared by the enemy,
because he knew that opening fire would expose his location and invite
attack by fighter planes controlled by the slowly circling Bird Dog. The
Vietnamese became bold, however, when they felt their position was
compromised and attacked the little Bird Dog with a vengeance in order to
lessen the accuracy of an impending strike by other craft.
Marine 1LT Dwight G. Rickman was a Bird Dog pilot assigned to SU1, 1
ANGLICO. On Christmas Day, 1972, Rickman and his Vietnamese observer were
flying visual reconnaissance in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, when
their aircraft was shot down about five miles east of the city of Dong Ha.
Intelligence reports indicate that Rickman and the observer were killed
either in the crash of the aircraft or shortly afterward, and were buried at
the crash site by persons unknown. No remains have ever been recovered.
The Defense Intelligence Agency further expanded Rickman's classification to
include an enemy knowledge ranking of 4. Category 4 indicates "unknown
knowledge" and includes individuals whose time and place of loss incident
are unknown (e.g. aircrew members downed at unknown locations or ground
personnel separated from their unit at an unknown time or place). If the
report of burial is accurate, however, it is unclear why this classification
was given this case.
Disturbing testimony was given to Congress in 1980 that the Vietnamese
"stockpiled" the remains of Americans to return at politically advantageous
times. Even more disturbing are the nearly 10,000 reports received by the
U.S. relating to Americans missing in Southeast Asia. Many authorities who
have examined this information (largely classified), have reluctantly come
to the conclusion that many Americans are still alive in Southeast Asia.
As long as even one American remains alive, held against his will, we must
do everything possible to bring him home -- alive.
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