Memorial Day Ceremony

Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall

Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Washingotn. DC

1:00 PM

May 31, 1999

Sergeant Jackson was one of five people added to The Wall during this Memorial Day Ceremony.

Jackson is buried at Jackson Cemetery, Laurel Hill, near Pineville Kentucky. Delia Wilson, his sister, was an official guest of the ceremony.

On a visit to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall, Charlie Rayl discovered that Sergeant Henry Jackson's name is not listed. He knew Jackson, A Troop Scout Observer, died as results of May 1968 wounds in a VA Hospital in 1971. Charlie decided to correct this mistake. He contacted the office responsible for the memorial and located Jackson's sister. Charlie assisted her in obtaining and completing the required documentation. Approval was given last December to add Jackson's name to the memorial.

A Brief Description Of That Action

This report is from the VHPA web site http://www.vhpa.org/info/panel/panelind.htm. Only confirmed KIA is listed in this casualty reports.

Unit History Information for A/7/17 CAV for May 18 1968. A/7/17 CAV was a US Army unit. Primary service involved, US Army. Operation MACARTHUR. Incident reference: 68051812.KIA. Kontum Province, II Corps, South Vietnam. Location, west of Dak To. A/7/17 CAV losses were 1 KIA. Aircraft lost in A/7/17 CAV were 2 OH-6A.

A/7/17 Cav reported their Scouts performed a BDA for a B-52 strike. They received heavy AW fire and one LOH crashed and burned on impact. His wing landed in an endeavor to rescue the crew; however, he soon came under fire. A medevac ship was called in to rescue the three men. The pilot of the first LOH, CW2 Douglas W. Walker, was killed on impact. Due to the large NVA force in the area, neither LOH could be extracted. Three air strikes were called into the area, however, the results could not be assessed. The Honor Roll section states Walker's aircraft received heavy AW fire. While returning the fire, his aircraft was shot down at ZB827285, killing him. The source for this information was A/7/17 CAV 4 FEB 67 - 31 DEC 68 Unit History

* * * This note prepared by Ernie Lamb * * *
email: elamb@gte.net