"I do not know the dignity of their birth, but I do know the glory of their death. They died unquestioning, uncomplaining, with faith in their hearts and on their lips - the hope that we would go on to victory."
General Douglas MacArthur
Please note that the following information comes from various sources. Further information and/or corrections are welcome.
SP/4 HATADA, FRED K.M.
KIA, awarded Silver Star
Fred Hatada was the first member of the 199th RAC to loose his life in support of the combat mission in the Republic of Viet Nam.
At approximately 0310 hours on the morning of 31 January 1968, the Viet Cong initiated a coordinated mortar and ground attack against Vinh Long Airfield , Republic of Viet Nam. As the intensity of incoming mortar rounds diminished, personnel of the 199th Aviation Company (Light) began moving to their assigned defensive positions of the west end of the Vinh Long runway, protect the unit's aircraft, and to repel any enemy ground attack from that end of the airfield.
Even as the lead elements of the company defensive force reached the transient revetments, a fire fight was in progress between the VC and the night crew/augmented company guard which were the first elements to take the enemy under fire in the company's defensive area. It was during this initial fire fight that SP4 Fred K. M. Hatada's courageous actions resulted in his being mortally wounded and SP5 Kenneth H. Erickson receiving his wounds which required medical evacuation. SP4 Hatada was a flight operations specialist and SP5 Erickson a crew chief.
When the first personnel to arrive from the company billets area (Major John S. Jacob, company commander; SFC Dwight C. Clark, the unit first sergeant; Captain Richard M. Pribnow, second platoon commander; and Warrant Officer Richard W. Shoup; later joined by Captain Robert S. Jones, Jr., company executive officer; Captain Charles Baker, general support platoon commander; Captain Daniel P. Aldridge, unit maintenance officer; and aircraft mechanics, cooks, clerks, supply and maintenance support personnel), reached the second revetment east of the general support hangar, they recovered the body of SP4 Hatada and administered aid to the wounded.
MAJ. COZART, ROBERT GORDON JR.
www.virtualwall.org/dc/CozartRG01a.htm
Remains Returned - ID Announced 01 August 1989 Name: Robert Gordon "Buster" Cozart, Jr. Rank/Branch: O3/US Army Unit: Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 214th Aviation Battalion, 164th Aviation Group, 1st Aviation Brigade Date of Birth: 27 March 1947 (Tuscaloosa AL) Home City of Record: Hammond LA Date of Loss: 20 March 1970 Country of Loss: South Vietnam Loss Coordinates: 095900N 1062045E (XS547038) Status (in 1973): Missing In Action Category: 1 Acft/Vehicle/Ground: O1G "Birddog" Refno: 1575 Other Personnel In Incident: James E. Butler (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: IR SAYS BOTH CREWMEMBERS KILLED SYNOPSIS: "Buster" Cozart believed a person should take full advantage of every opportunity given to him and to do his very best at it. He loved to fly and wanted to be the best. His wife described him as a happy, optimistic person of great strength of character and deep faith in God. On March 20, 1970, Capt. Robert G. Cozart, pilot, and WO James E. Butler departed Vinh Long, South Vietnam aboard an O1G (serial #51-12899) at 1016 hours on a visual reconnaissance mission over Vinh Binh Province with a stop at the Province capitol of Phu Vinh. At 1028 hours, a radio transmission was received from WO Butler advising the Team 72 Tactical Operations Center that they were airborne and en route to Tra Vinh. This was the last communication with the crew. The aircraft never landed at Tra Vinh. Upon receiving notification that the aircraft was missing, a province-wide search was initiated. All immediate search efforts were unsuccessful. Vietnamese civilians, however, reported that an aircraft had been downed in the vicinity of Tra Vinh. Local forces with U.S. advisors, U.S. troops, coastal patrol boats and light aircraft conducted extensive search efforts from March 20 through March 27. During the search efforts, one control communications set and one control radio set were located, but were never identified as positively being from Capt. Cozart's aircraft. However, they were of the sort used on the O1G. According to Butler's wife, a Vietnamese civilian had reported the crash, prompting the search in the area. Another Vietnamese civilian report indicated that the pilot of the plane (Cozart) had been killed in the crash and the Viet Cong killed or wounded the other crewman (Butler) and either took the bodies to their base area for display or threw them into the river and dismantled the aircraft. Another Vietnamese civilian report indicated that part of the plane was located but a September 21, 1970, search was aborted due to booby traps. The tail section of the aircraft was finally recovered and identified October 23, 1970.
On March 20, 1970, Capt. Robert G. Cozart, pilot, and WO James E. Butler departed Vinh Long, South Vietnam aboard an O-1G (serial #51-12899) at 1016 hours on a visual reconnaissance mission over Vinh Binh Province with a stop at the Province capitol of Phu Vinh. At 1028 hours, a radio transmission was received from WO Butler advising the Team 72 Tactical Operations Center that they were airborne and en route to Tra Vinh. This was the last communication with the crew. The aircraft never landed at Tra Vinh.
Upon receiving notification that the aircraft was missing, a province-wide search was initiated. All immediate search efforts were unsuccessful. Vietnamese civilians, however, reported that an aircraft had been downed in the vicinity of Tra Vinh. Local forces with U.S. advisors, U.S. troops, coastal patrol boats and light aircraft conducted extensive search efforts from March 20 through March 27 but without success. The tail section of the aircraft was finally recovered and identified October 23, 1970.
In 1989 the Vietnamese government turned over a large number of human remains believed to be those of American servicemen. On August 1, 1989, the US announced the positive identification of Captain Cozart's remains, but WO Butler remained among the missing.
However, on 4 September 1997, WO
Butler's remains were positively identified and returned to his family for
burial in Lillington, NC, next to his father.
WO1 BUTLER, JAMES E.
CASUALTY DATA Loss Date: Friday, 08/22/1969 Chg Status: Tuesday, 02/27/1979, MIA to Died while Missing Age at Loss: 32 Remains: Body Recovered Location: Province not reported, South Vietnam Type: Non-hostile, Died While Missing Reason: Air Loss, Crash - Land - Fixed Wing - Pilot Last Update: September 1990 Comment: MIA 03/20/70 - REMAINS RECOVERED 07/27/89
From Roger Bowers Fox 25, 36
"Buster" Cozart was a friend of mine when we were in the 199th. I participated in the very extensive and exhaustive search effort that was carried out during the days and nights after he and WO Butler went down. I believe their families would be gratified to know of the time, effort and resources that were deployed in an effort to find their loved ones. Unfortunately, all efforts were in vain. It is likely that both men were fatally wounded within a short time of their crash/shootdown.
It is my understanding (memories DO fade) that their aircraft was engaged by hostile ground fire, was hit and made a forced landing along the muddy banks of the Mekong or one of its several branches that form the Mekong Delta. I believe WO Butler was either wounded by the ground fire, in the subsequent landing, OR by enemy forces who closed on the crash site. I was given to understand that Captain Cozart, armed with only a .38 revolver, defended WO Butler until he was himself mortally wounded.
According to interrogations of the local populace, the bodies were displayed briefly in some nearby hamlets. I have heard that a local was found in possession of one of the men's watch. I also was told that sometime later, a 9-year-old boy led friendly forces to a shallow gravesite that had been excavated and was unoccupied. I believe some artifact(s) was/were found that led the search team to believe it/they belonged to one or both of the crew.
I was unaware of any further developments until Buster's remains were recovered and repatriated. I learned of this, while I was deployed to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba on a drug interdiction operation with the Coast Guard. A brief article in the back pages of the base newspaper mentioned that Buster had come home. Sadly, the military had forgotten what an 0-1G is and identified it as a helicopter.
Please understand that this information is all second or third person at best and has surely undergone variations and permutations in my mind over the intervening 30 years. I must leave it to your discretion whether and with whom you might share it. I can only hope that it might help to answer a few of the questions that are sure to have been asked.
While we will never know with complete certainty exactly what happened to these two fine men, I believe this is substantially correct.
From Kirkuk AB, Iraq,
Roger P. Bowers, LCDR, USCG (Ret)
FOX 25, 36, Aloft 46,
From Dave Kling Fox 24
First, Cpt Cozart, who went by the name "Butch", was KIA while I was at Ben Tre, I'm gonna say in Feb or March of '70. He was shot down while attacking a target down southeast of Ben Tre somewhere. I don't remember exactly where. Also on board was a WO1 named Butler, also KIA.
Butler was from Arkansas somewhere; he had been a cropduster before he started flying for the Army. I had played poker with both of them just a couple of days earlier, when I was in Vinh Long for maintenance.
Two or three weeks after we had given them up for lost, I was pulled aside in Ben Tre by a fellow whose first name was Clete. He worked for "the Company", and he related to me how Butler and Cozart had died. It was not easy to listen to, but he went into some detail. Neither of them was killed in the crash; they died in a nearby village at the hands of the VC. No more needs to be said.
SP4 Richard Vokes
A SP4 Richard Vokes was a victim of a non-combat related intentional homicide on 25 Jul 70 in the My Tho area. His name is also listed on the roster of the
1969 History.