My story: I, like some of you, have a loved one that has never returned from war.  My Uncle Joe, Joseph P. Nolan Jr., was a young Army Captain (O-3) aviator and the pilot of a doomed helo that was downed on May 16, 1971 while conducting a combat assault insertion of ARVN Marines into a landing zone (LZ) in the vicinity of Hue, Thua Thin Province, South Vietnam.  My Uncle, Capt. Nolan’s helicopter was the seventh to land on the LZ.  On departing the LZ, pilots of the fifth and sixth helicopters stated that they were taking enemy fire.  Capt. Nolan radioed after touchdown that he was taking heavy ground fire, that his crew chief was wounded and he immediately took off and at 250 feet, witnesses saw his aircraft rapidly lose rotor RPM and crash into the tree tops, bursting into flames.  No survivors were seen to exit the aircraft.  Joe and his crew remain listed as MIA.

Crew Members:
SP5 CROOK ELLIOTT
SP4 JACOBSEN TIMOTHY JOHN
CW2 FARLOW CRAIG LEE
CPT NOLAN JOSEPH PAUL JR

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