Monday, April 3, 1972
Decorated AF Officer Killed
SAIGON (AP) --A highly decorated U.S. Air Force veteran of World War II and the Korean War was killed Thursday with a South Vietnamese general when their helicopter crashed in the Mekong Delta.The American officer was Col. Robert Sowers, 49, chief U.S. Air Force adviser to the Vietnamese Air Force in South Vietnam's southernmost Military Region 4, the Air Force said.Sowers and Brig. Gen. Nguyen Huy Anh, commander of the 4th Air Div. in the Mekong Delta, were killed when their helicopter apparently went out of control and crashed 80 miles south of Saigon. Another South Vietnamese Air Force man also was killed.The crash occurred when their South Vietnamese UH1 helicopter was trying to lift out a light observation plane at Binh Thuy. One account said the cable being used to make the lift snapped and the helicopter went out of control. Spokesmen said no Communist action was involved.Sowers, born Feb. 14, 1923, received many awards and decorations for service as a fighter pilot in World War II and Korea, including the Distinguished Flying Cross with two Oak Leaf Clusters, the Air Medal with 20 Oak Leaf Clusters and the Air Force Commendation Medal. He flew 62 combat missions in the Korean conflict.His most recent assignment before coming to South Vietnam was commander U.S. Forces, Iceland.Meanwhile, the allied command announced Friday the loss of four U.S. and two South Vietnamese aircraft.The aircraft losses resulted in three Americans killed, two missing and two wounded; two South Vietnamese killed, two missing and two South Koreans killed.A third American crewman was wounded when a U.S. Army helicopter was hit by Communist ground fire two miles north of Saigon's Tan Son Nhut Thursday night. The helicopter sustained minor damage, the U.S. command said.The command said its records now show a total of 28 U.S. helicopters and 20 planes lost to all causes in Indochina since the North Vietnamese offensive began March 30. Total American casualties in the air losses are listed as 26 killed, 10 wounded and 43 missing.These figures do not include crewmen killed or wounded in aircraft that are hit by ground fire but not totally lost.The South Vietnamese command has not released over-all figures for its air losses during the offensive."Decorated AF Officer Killed", by (AP), published in the Pacific Stars and Stripes on Sunday, April 30, 1972 and reprinted from European and Pacific Stars and Stripes, a Department of Defense publication copyright, 2002 European and Pacific Stars and Stripes.