Name: Marshall Joseph Angell
Rank/Branch: E5/US Army
Unit: 611th Transportation Company
Date of Birth: 29 January 1939 (Boone's Mill VA)
Home City of Record: Roanoke VA
Date of Loss: 12 December 1963
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 101845N 1054952E (WS910400)
Status (in 1973): Killed/Body Not Recovered
Category: 3
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: CH37B
Other Personnel In Incident:
3 killed, remains recovered; one slightly injured,
recovered alive.
Source:
Compiled by Homecoming II Project 15 June 1990 from one or more of the
following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with
POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews.
REMARKS:
REMS 3 + 1 OK RECV; N/SUBJ-J
SYNOPSIS:
The CH37B Mohave, like other large helicopters in Vietnam, served a
variety of functions, including troop and material transport and aircraft
recovery. The huge, 88-foot-long aircraft had a basic weight of 21,500 pounds
and a payload of 5,300 pounds.
SP5 Marshall J. Angell was the flight engineer aboard a CH37B helicopter on a recovery mission to recover a downed aircraft in Tuong Dinh Tuong Province, Republic of Vietnam. The crew was attempting to sling load a downed aircraft when hostile ground fire erupted and hit the aircraft. The Mohave then crashed and burned.
All the crew aboard the helicopter either survived or their remains were recovered except SP5 Angell. A thorough search of the aircraft and surrounding area was conducted. It was ultimately surmised by those conducting the search that Angell was either consumed by the fire on board the aircraft or that he sank into the marshy ground surrounding the crash site. No trace was ever found of Marshall Angell. He was classified Killed/Body Not Recovered.
For Marshall J. Angell, death seems a certainty. For hundreds of others, however, simple answers are not possible. Adding to the torment of nearly 10,000 reports relating to Americans missing in Southeast Asia is the certain knowledge that some Americans who were known to be prisoners of war were not released at the end of the war. Others were suspected to be prisoners, and still others were in radio contact with would-be rescuers when last seen alive. Many were known to have survived their loss incidents, only to disappear without a trace.
The problem of Americans still missing torments not only the families of those who are missing, but the men who fought by their sides, and those in the general public who realize the full implication of leaving men unaccounted for at the end of a war.
Tragically, many authorities believe there are hundreds of Americans still alive in captivity in Southeast Asia today. What must they be thinking of us? What will our next generation say if called to fight if we are unable to bring these men home from Southeast Asia?
