The current guardian of this Remembrance Page is Louis Burns, IV-Family.
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Location of Interment Calvary United Methodist Church Cemetery - Lewisburg, West Virginia
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Additional Information
Last Known Activity:
We had information that Lou was killed approximately 8 months after returning from Vietnam in a helicopter oil rig crash.
He had transfer orders 10/5/1970 from HA(L)-3 to NAS PT. MUGU, CA at the time, but got out of the Navy instead.
Other Comments:
It appears Lou had prior Enlisted Air Force service before the Navy:
----------------------Beneficiary Identification Records Locator Subsystem (BIRLS) Death File. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
Name: Louis Burns
Gender: Male
Birth Date: 1 Jul 1935
Death Date: 24 Jun 1971
SSN: XXX-XX-XXXX
Branch 1: AF
Enlistment Date 1: 17 Aug 1954
Release Date 1: 16 Aug 1958
Description This Campaign period was from 1 May to 30 June 1970. The allied push into Cambodia during the spring of 1970 brought the SEALORDS forces into a unique operational environment. At 0730 local time on 9 May, 10 days after ground troops crossed the border, a combined Vietnamese-American naval task force steamed up the Mekong River to wrest control of that key waterway from North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces.
The flotilla, led by a Vietnamese naval officer, was composed of American PCFs, ASPBs, PBRs, HAL-3 and VAL-4 aircraft, Benewah, Askari, Hunterdon County, YRBM 16, YRBM 21 and 10 strike assault boats (STAB) of Strike Assault Boat Squadron 20, a fast-reaction unit created by Admiral Zumwalt in 1969. The Vietnamese contingent included riverine assault craft of many types, PCFs, PBRs, and marine battalions.
Naval Advisory Group personnel sailed with each Vietnamese vessel. By the end of the first day, Vietnamese naval units reached the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh, while to the south the combined force stormed enemy-held Neak Luong, a strategic ferry crossing point on the river. For political reasons, no U.S. personnel were allowed past Neak Luong, midway to Phnom Penh.
Although the American component pulled out of Cambodia by 29 June, the Vietnamese continued to guard the Mekong and evacuate to South Vietnam over 82,000 ethnic Vietnamese jeopardized by the conflict.
