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UPDATE
Lt. Jack C. Rittichier
United States Coast Guard
A Brother Comes Home To Rest On American Soil
On October 6, 2003, at 1300 hours, the remains of United States Coast
Guard Lt. Jack Columbus Rittichier will be buried at Arlington
National Cemetery. Jack was the first Coast Guardsman killed in action
in Vietnam, and the only one who remained unaccounted for after the
war's end. The crash site of the Jolly Green 23 was discovered on 09
November 9, 2002, and the remains of the four crew members were repatriated
on February 14, 2003. Positive ID was confirmed to Rittichier's brother (Dave)
on August 11, 2003.
Maggie and Dave Rittichier are allowing the funeral to be an open one,
and would very much like to see a large crowd present. If you are able
to make it, please attend the funeral. Jack will be buried at Coast
Guard Hill, in an area normally reserved for the top officials; a
Commandant gave up his spot for Jack. Information about and photos of
Jack can be found at the URL below.
Source:
http://www.faraway-soclose.org/jcr/
prisoners-of-war@yahoogroups.com
Posted: August 23, 2003
Please Note
Dated: September 6, 2003
From: Maggie & Dave
One more update before the weekend:
Dave's Pastor (Ted Reynolds) has resolved his scheduling conflict and will be officiating at Lt Rittichier's funeral along with Capt Wilbur Douglass, USCG Chief of Chaplains.
The arrival ceremony and the funeral will be conducted on military installations. No one may come to either event unless their name is on the list I give to base security. SO, PLEASE, have anyone you know who wants to attend these events contact me, so I can make sure they are on the list.
My phone #s are:
Home 301-934-3253 E-Mail Home: jbrewster321@comcast.net
Work 202-267-4009 (NEW) Work jbrewster@comdt.uscg.mil
Feel free to give out my work E-mail and phone # to any and all so that any and all can call me about these events.
Jim Brewster, Decedent Affairs Program
Commandant (G-WPM-2)
2100 Second Street, S.W.
Washington, DC 20593
202-267-1648 (v) --- 202-267-4823 (f)
Synopsis:
On June 9th, 1968, a Marine A4E Skyhawk, callsign Hellborn 215, was shot down while bombing NVA forces in the heavily defended Base Area 611 at the north end of the A Shau Valley in South Vietnam.
A large SAR effort was mounted to rescue the pilot who had landed along a major branch of the Ho Chi Minh Trail near the Laos-Vietnam border. After extensive bombing to silence the enemy ground fire, an HH-3E Jolly Green helicopter moved in to attempt a pickup. This helicopter, Jolly Green 22, made two attempts to reach the survivor but was driven off by heavy ground fire each time. After each attempt, more ordnance was expended on the surrounding areas in an effort to suppress this ground fire. Jolly Green 22 finally was forced to abort its efforts due to low fuel.
Following additional suppression efforts, a second helicopter, Jolly Green 23, moved in to attempt a pickup. After entering a hover and beginning to lower a parajumper to assist the injured survivor, JG23 came under intense ground fire. As related by the supporting FAC, Trail 33, the left engine of the helicopter erupted in flames, and the pilot reported he was pulling off and attempting to reach a clearing approximately one kilometer north of the rescue site. As JG23 approached the clearing, the rotor noticeably slowed and the helicopter impacted the ground. The aircraft was totally engulfed in flame. It was apparent there could be no survivors from this crash.
There were four men aboard Jolly Green 23:
Lieutenant Jack C. Rittichier, USCG*
Captain Richard C. Yeend, USAF
Staff Sergeant Elmer L. Holden, USAF
Sergeant James D. Locker, USAF
Their remains have not been recovered, but the search for them has never ended.
* Lt. Rittichier was on an exchange tour with the USAF 37th Air Rescue and Recovery Squadron. He was the first Coast Guardsman killed in action in Southeast Asia and the only one whose remains have not been recovered.
Leave No Man Behind!
Jolly Green 23 Found!
On 23 January 2003, Joint Task Force-Full Accounting (JTF-FA) in Hawaii announced that a Joint Field Activity team operating in Laos had discovered the wreckage of Jolly Green 23. The wreckage was found on 9 November 2002, but the announcement has been delayed pending notification of the families of the four crew members.
Following is the text of the announcement pertaining to Jolly Green 23:
In November 2002, during the 76th Joint Field Activity in Laos, a Joint U.S. and Lao investigation team from Joint Task Force-Full Accounting (JTF-FA) located the crash sites of the last two Jolly Green helicopters in Southeast Asia with unaccounted-for personnel onboard that had not been previously located.
The first site found was Jolly Green 23, an HH-3E with a crew of four which was shot down on 9 June 1968 while attempting to rescue a downed Marine pilot. The crash site was found 600 meters inside Laos, 250 meters north of the former North Vietnamese Route 922, which ran into the Ashau Valley, 20 kilometers to the east.
On 9 November 2002, while investigating the incident, an analyst from JTF-FA, an American-Lao service member who was acting as the Linguist, and a Lao official conducted an aerial reconnaissance in a helicopter of the suspected loss area in Laos, looking for signs of habitation, but none were found.
On their return to the Base Camp, the analyst observed a small village six kilometers west of the suspected loss area and requested the team land and interview the villagers; however, the Lao official said a Joint Team had been to the village, Ban Koutai, on two previous Joint Field Activities and the villagers did not know anything. The analyst insisted they land at the village and the Lao official relented.
Once in the village, the villagers told the two Americans they knew of two crash sites near the village they had not told the previous teams about because they were scared. After the six other team members flew to the village, the team searched for the crash site in the 12 foot deep elephant grass.
Eventually, the villagers were able to relocate the crash site, with the HH-3 rotor head being the prominent feature. A search of the area found three boot soles and other evidence the crew was onboard the helicopter when it crashed. The crash site is currently being excavated on the 77th Joint Field Activity which began on 17 January 2003.
The second aircraft found was Jolly Green 71, an HH-53B with a crew of six which was downed on 28 January 1970 by a missile fired from a MIG-21 while waiting to refuel during a mission to recover an F-105 pilot shot down in North Vietnam.
There was much difficulty in collaborating the various accounts of a combat aircraft loss. We salute the staff of Joint Task Force-Full Accounting and particularly the members of the 76th Joint Field Activity for their perseverance and determination.
They never stopped believing that they would find Jolly Green 23 and its crew.
Our thoughts are refocused on the sacrifice of the four crew members and their families.
Source & Graphic From:
Search & Rescue ~ Search For The Jolly Green Giant 23
Jack Columbus Rittichier also has a Rembrance Place on the Virtual Wall
This link will take you the Remembrance Site for Jack Columbus Rittichier
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