If you knew or served with this Sailor and have additional information or photos to support this Page, please leave a message for the Page Administrator(s) HERE.
Casualty Info
Home Town East St. Louis
Last Address East St Louis, Illinois
Casualty Date Sep 20, 1966
Cause Non Hostile- Died Other Causes
Reason Drowned, Suffocated
Location Gia Dinh (Vietnam)
Conflict Vietnam War
Location of Interment Mount Hope Cemetery - San Diego, California
Wall/Plot Coordinates 10E 126/ Division 7 Section 17
Mine clearing forces also were essential to the security of Vietnams waterways. Nowhere was this more crucial than on the rivers near Saigon, the country's most vital port. Viet Cong mining of the main channel, the Long Tau River, which wound its way through the Rung Sat Special Zone south of the capital, could have had a devastating effect on the war effort. Consequently on 20 May 1966, the Navy established Mine Squadron 11 Alpha (Mine Division 112 after May 1968) at Nha Be, under command of TF-116 until mid-1968. The minesweeping boats (MSB) were reactivated in the United States and shipped to South Vietnam. The 56 foot wooden-hulled vessels were armed with machine guns and grenade launchers and carried surface radar's and minesweeping gear for clearing explosives from the key waterways, The Navy also deployed three-boat subordinate units to Danang and Cam Rahn Bay. Detachment Alpha?s strength increased in July 1967 when the first of six mechanized landing craft (LCM(M)) that were specially configured to sweep mines arrived at Nha Be.
