This Military Service Page was created/owned by
Daniel L Arnes, CMDCM
to remember
Goza, Leonard Elmo, LTJG.
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Contact Info
Last Address HC-5, Imperial Beach, CA
Date of Passing Jun 13, 1969
Official Badges
Unofficial Badges
Additional Information
Last Known Activity:
Leonard was killed in a helicopter crash 6/13/1969, nine months after he left HA(L)-3.
I have since found information from a brother-in-law married to Leonard's since deceased sister, and he was killed in a helicopter crash off the coast of San Diego somewhere, and body was lost at sea, not recovered.
He said they were aboard a ship operating off the coast of California and had a flight going into San Diego and he said Leonard was not scheduled to fly that day, but the pilot that was scheduled, gave him the flight because Leonard wanted to come in early for a family situation.
He said the flight never made it and all onboard perished, and the helo and all personnel onboard were never found. He said there was no cause of the crash determined to his knowledge. He didn't remember the name of the ship or the type of helo.
I have since learned from the pilot who gave up the flight, that it was an H-2 and they were doing carrier quals off San Clemente preparing to deploy on the Connie. It was a night flight and the helicopter was lost off Point Loma with entire crew (no pax), the last call as he remembers was “we’re spinning”. All that was found was a seat cushion floating.
A marker was placed at the foot of his parents in the family plot at Mount Hope Cemetery, Anson, Jones County, Texas, USA
Vietnam War/Counteroffensive Phase IV Campaign (68)
From Month/Year
April / 1968
To Month/Year
June / 1968
Description This Campaign period was from 2 April to 30 June 1968. The Naval air and gun fire support to operations such as Operation Silver Mace gave ground units the needed firepower while AirForce units were moved to air operations over Laos, Cambodia and North Vietnam. From 7 to 18 April, ground, air, and naval units from each of the American services, the Vietnamese Navy, and the Vietnamese Marine Corps conducted Silver Mace II, a strike operation in the Nam Can Forest on Ca Mau Peninsula. The enemy avoided heavy contact with the allied force, but his logistical system was disrupted.
Enemy air defenses caused aviators more concern for by 1968 the Communists had developed a defensive system that was well-armed, coordinated, and supported. On the ground throughout North Vietnam, South Vietnam, and Laos, the enemy trained skyward thousands of small arms, automatic weapons, and antiaircraft artillery. North Vietnam alone contained 8,000 weapons of many calibers, concentrated around key targets. Beginning in early 1965, surface-to-air missiles (SAM) were added to this defensive arsenal, and by early 1968 over 300 SAM sites dotted the North Vietnamese countryside. The entire defensive system was tied together with a sophisticated network of communications, air alert stations, and early warning, ground control-interceptor, and fire control radars. New and replacement weapons and ammunition were amply supplied by sympathetic Communist countries. The loss in Southeast Asia of 421 fixed-wing aircraft from 1965 to 1968 attested to the strength of these defenses. The aviators killed, missing, or made prisoner totaled 450. The operating environment was especially dangerous in North Vietnam, where 382 Navy planes were shot down, 58 of them by SAMs.
Although only accounting for eight of the Navy's aircraft during this three-year period, the North Vietnamese air units posed a constant threat to U.S. operations, thus requiring a diversion of vital resources for protection. The enemy air force varied from 25 to 100 MiG-15, MiG-17, MiG-19, and MiG-21 jet fighters. The country's jet-capable airfields included Gia Lam, Phuc Yen, Cat Bi, Kep, Kien An, Yen Bai, Son Tay, Bai Thuong, Hoa Lac, and Vinh. The U.S. Navy engaged in its first air-to-air encounter of the war on 3 April 1965, when several MiG-15s unsuccessfully attacked a flight of F-8 Crusaders near Thanh Hoa. On 17 June, two Midway F-4 Phantoms registered the first kills in the long conflict when they downed two MiG-17s south of Hanoi.
