RU8-D crew in Phu Bai, RVN Crash 12/67

[mikesergent]

I lost a good friend, WO1 Jonathan Peter Shaffer in a fixed wing crash in Phu Bai, RVN on 12/29/1967. He perished with WO1 Smith. Recently I received a communication from a fellow ASA guy who says he witnessed the crash and helped pull a third, wounded crewman from the wreckage. He is wondering if the crewman (probably would have been enlisted ASA radioman) survived and if he could try to get a name to contact him. The crash was on 12/29/67 in the antenna field of the 8th Radio Research Field Station in Phu Bai, RVN. The RU8 was with the 138th Aviation Batallion. I have not found anyone who died in a fixed wing crash within a few days of the crash. Maybe the "3rd" crewman was really one of the two-man crew? The guy who contacted me seemed sure the fellow was still alive at the site. Any help would be appreciated.

[JR]

Hi, Mike.



My name is John and I have been researching US Army fixed wing crashes during the Vietnam War. According to my data base, there was a third crewman aboard the crashed RU8D. He was SP4 Jose L. Lujan and he DOW on 24 May 1968 after being MEDEVAC to CONUS. The location of his death is listed as Santa Fe, New Mexico which leads me to believe he was probably in the VA system at the time of his death. He is listed on the Wall with 24 May 1968 as his date of death. I also heard that there was a fourth crewman who survived this crash but I do not have any information to confirm that.



I sincerely hope this information is of use to you.

[tj]

There was room for only three crewmen on the RU8D.