Sheldon Duane Schultz (WO/US Army)

American Legion Post 889 Waymart is working to learn why Altoona native Sheldon Duane Schultz has not been accounted for since his chopper crashed in Laos in 1968.  WO Schultz is one of nearly 2,500 servicemen still unaccounted for from the Vietnam War.

While Schultz and the rest of the helicopter crew may have died in the crash, their families live today - and everyday of their lives - wondering  if there was the slightest chance he could have survived. Wondering if perhaps there son/brother/husband is sitting in a prison camp in Laos, trying desparately to hold on to memories of his family - the way his mother smiled every morning or the way his father carefully folded the morning as he read it at the breakfast table - holding on to those memories so he can hold on until the day he goes home.

It's time we as a nation did something. The members of Post 889 have begun a  letter campaign to find the answers. We will be writing our elected officials to find out what is being done to get definitive answers on WO Sheldon Duane Schultz status. We sent him there. Now it's time to bring him home. Our letters will be posted here as well as the responses.

For now please read about Sheldon Duane Schultz from the incident report below.

Name: Sheldon Duane Schultz
Rank/Branch: WO/US Army
Unit: 176th Aviation Company, 14th Aviation Battalion, 23rd Infantry Division (Americal)
Date of Birth: 19 April 1948
Home City of Record: Altoona PA
Date of Loss: 05 January 1968
Country of Loss: Laos
Loss Coordinates: 161907N 1063445E (XD701021)
Status (in 1973): Missing In Action
Category: 4
Acft/Vehicle/Ground: UH1D
Other Personnel In Incident: James Williamson; John T. Gallagher; Ernest F. Briggs; Dennis C. Hamilton (all missing); (indigenous team members, names, numbers, fates unknown)

REMARKS: NO SIGN OF CREW

SYNOPSIS: On January 5, 1968, WO Dennis C. Hamilton, aircraft commander; WO Sheldon D. Schultz, pilot; SP5 Ernest F. Briggs, Jr., crew chief; SP4 James P. Williamson, crewman, and SSgt. John T. Gallagher, passenger; were aboard a UH1D helicopter (tail # 66-1172) on a mission to infiltrate an indigenous reconnaissance patrol into Laos.
The reconnaissance patrol and SSgt. Gallagher were operating under orders to Command & Control North, MACV-SOG (Military Assistance Command, Vietnam Studies and Observation Group). MACV-SOG was a joint service high command unconventional warfare task force engaged in highly classified operations throughout Southeast Asia. The 5th Special Forces channeled personnel into MACV-SOG (although it was not a Special Forces group) through Special Operations Augmentation (SOA), which provided their "cover" while under secret orders to MACV-SOG. The teams performed deep penetration missions of strategic reconnaissance and interdiction which were called, depending on the time frame, "Shining Brass" or "Prairie Fire" missions.
As the aircraft approached the landing zone about 20 miles inside Laos south of Lao Bao, it came under heavy 37mm anti-aircraft fire while at an altitude of about 300 feet above ground level. The aircraft immediately entered a
nose-low vertical dive and crashed.
Upon impact with the ground, the aircraft burst into flames which were 10 to 20 feet high. No radio transmissions were heard during the helicopter's descent, nor were radio or beeper signals heard after impact. Four attempts to get into the area of the downed helicopter failed due to intense ground fire.
During the next two days more attempts to get to the wreckage failed. The pilot of one search helicopter maneuvered to within 75 feet of the crash site before being forced out by enemy fire. The pilot who saw the wreckage stated that  the crashed helicopter was a mass of burned metal and that there was no part of the aircraft that could be recognized. No signs of life were seen in the crash area.
Weather delayed further search attempts for a couple of days. After the weather improved, the successful insertion of a ground team was made east of the crash site to avoid enemy fire. The team was extracted after the second day,  finding nothing. The crash site was located near the city of Muong Nong in Savannakhet Province, Laos.
Nearly 600 Americans were lost in Laos. The Pathet Lao insisted that the "tens of tens" of Americans they held would only be released from Laos, but the U.S. did not officially recognize the communist faction in Laos and did not negotiate for American prisoners being held by them. Not one American held by the Lao was ever released.
Alarmingly, evidence continues to mount that Americans were left as prisoners in Southeast Asia and continue to be held today. Unlike "MIAs" from other wars, most of the nearly 2500 men and women who remain missing in Southeast Asia can be accounted for. Perhaps the crew of the helicopter did not survive the crash, but until there is positive proof of their deaths, we cannot forget them. If even one was left behind at the end of the war, alive, (and many authorities estimate the numbers to be in the hundreds), we have failed as a nation until and unless we do everything possible to secure his freedom and bring him home.

To find out how you can help  by adopting a POW/MIA for your website
go to the Operation Just Cause website here or by clicking on the POW breacelet below.
You too can make a difference.