DPAA Brings Another Home

Spring of ’68 – phase 2 of the infamous Tet Offensive was still raging when in the A Shau Valley one of our choppers was shot down, crashed, and broke into two sections. The door gunner, Donald P. Gervais, was from Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 9th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division.

He was declared missing in action (MIA) for 10 years until the Army declared him killed in action (KIA).

On Sept. 5, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced that Gervais, a master sergeant lost more than five decades ago in the Vietnam War, has finally been accounted for through DNA testing. On May 16, the agency confirmed remains found in the Vietnamese jungle belonged to Gervais.

Initially, Gervais was deemed a prisoner of war, believed to have been captured by North Vietnamese soldiers following the crash. As months passed, and he was not found, the Army declared him MIA. On July 25, 1978, his status was moved to KIA, and he was posthumously promoted to master sergeant.

Interestingly, the story got confirmation from an unusual source.

In June 2013, members from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, a precursor to the DPAA, flew to Vietnam, visiting the Thua Thien-Hue Province to interview Truong Ngoc Huyen, a former anti-aircraft artillery squad leader for the North Vietnamese at the time of the crash. Huyen stated that in the days between April 27-April 29, 1968, while his squad was hunkered down in a location called “Hamlet 39,” they witnessed a “UTT” helicopter flying nearby. He commanded his squad to open fire. Huyen provided a photo of the OH-Cayuse chopper to investigators. He said the aircraft had split into two sections and pieces scattered to the ground.

Huyen’s recount was corroborated by former Master Sgt. Hoang The Phuong, an assistant recon squad leader with 23rd Company, Binh Tram 42. Phuong said that around May 1, 1968, as U.S. forces were conducting an air cavalry assault, he spotted Huyen’s troops gun down an OH-6. He investigated the crash site the following morning.

Unfortunately the crash site was reportedly leveled by US bombing in the days and weeks that followed, making recovery almost impossible.

From the fall of 2018 to the spring of 2025, DPAA recovery teams did not give up on finding Gervais. They conducted eight crash site evacuations, preserving bone fragments, aircraft wreckage and life support equipment. When teams returned to the U.S., their findings were delivered to the DPAA Laboratory for analysis.

Through dental analysis, and examining material evidence, DPAA scientists were able to positively identify Gervais’s remains.

That is what is meant by “never forget”.

For years, at the National Memorial Cemetery on the Pacific in Hawaii, Gervais’ name had been among the many unaccounted for listed on the American Battle Monuments Commission’s Courts of the Missing. Finally, a rosette can be placed next to the master sergeant’s name to signify he has been found. Gervais’s name is also listed on the National Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C.

It has not been determined when Gervais will be buried. The Clarksville, Tennessee native was 24 years old at the time of the crash.Military.com

Category: Vietnam, We Remember