Salisbury, NC welcomes Tech Sergeant Edwin Morgan home
The town of Salisbury, North Carolina welcomed home Technical Sergeant Edwin Everton Morgan after 49 years. Morgan was the loadmaster of an AC-47D gunship aircraft that failed to return from a mission in March, 1966. From WBTV;
Morgan enlisted in the Navy in June of 1945 when he was 17 years old and served until June of 1949. Morgan served in the Army from 1949 to 1955. While in the Army, he served in Germany and France.
In 1955 Morgan reenlisted in the Air Force. While in the Air Force, Edwin was stationed in Bermuda, Tinker AFB in Oklahoma City, Okla. and Joint Base in Charleston, S.C., before leaving for Tan Son Nhut AB in the Republic of Vietnam at the end of January 1966. Morgan remained at Tan Son Nhut until he was reported as MIA on March 13, 1966. Morgan was awarded the Purple Heart, the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal posthumously.
From Task Force Omega;
On 9 March 1966, Capt. Howard W. Henninger, pilot; Capt. Robert E Pasekoff, co-pilot; Capt. Gerald E. Olson, navigator; then TSgt. Edwin E. Morgan, loadmaster; SSgt. Gene E. Davis, flight mechanic; SSgt. Marshall I. Pauley, aerial gunner and Sgt. Dean A Duvall, aerial gunner; comprised the crew of an AC47D gunship, call sign “Spooky 73.” They departed DaNang Airfield at 0300 hours on an armed reconnaissance mission along Route 92 that ran through the dense jungle covered mountains of Quang Nam Province, South Vietnam.
The mission was scheduled to last 3 hours. Weather conditions were good. It was a moonlit night with scattered to broken clouds, smoke and haze. Approximately 22 minutes after Spooky 73 took off, Capt. Henninger established radio contact with a standard communications check. At that time there was no indication of any trouble with the aircraft.
When Spooky 73 failed to return to base as scheduled, a ramp check of all bases that the AC47D could have diverted to was made. At 0800 hours the aircraft was declared overdue and initial search and rescue (SAR) operations initiated. At 0740 hours on 14 March 1966, full SAR operations using 2 AIE and 1 HE16B aircraft combed the dense jungle covered mountains along Route 92 and their briefed flight path of Spooky 73. This search effort was terminated at 1430 hours with no findings or sightings of the missing aircraft or its crew observed.
The last known location of Capt. Henninger’s aircraft and crew placed them over rugged mountains covered in triple canopy jungle. At that time Spooky 73 was on a heading of 250 degrees; approximately 9 miles south of the South Vietnamese/Lao border, 33 miles southeast of Kham Duc and 58 miles west-southwest of DaNang, Quang Nam Province, South Vietnam.
A service will be held tomorrow for the returning airman who has promoted to Chief Master Sergeant since he was lost.
Thanks to Jon the Mechanic for the link.
Category: Blue Skies
My home town. Fair skies TSGT, you’re “Clear Hot”.
RIP
Thanks for posting this, Jonn. At the time I wrote about the man’s recovery and identification a couple of months ago, funeral arrangements were not available. I hadn’t seen this; thanks for following up.
FWIW: DPAA lists him as CMSgt Edwin E. Morgan. As was the practice at the time – he apparently received constructive promotions until declared legally dead.
Also FWIW: the man already appears to have had 20 years of active service before he deployed to combat in Vietnam.
Rest in peace, elder brother-in-arms.
Rest in peace now CMS Morgan in American soil. God bless you family.
Ditto to all the above. Even after all these years it is difficult to not feel the pain and sorrow of loss as if it had occurred just yesterday. When “spookies” were needed, they never let us down. Their fire was often immediately at the outside edge of concertina wire we had set up. When doing their thing it was mesmerizing to hear the roar of the engines so close, in spite of being drowned out by the sight and sound of constant streams of tracers which appeared as bright tiny red spotlights swirling as they approached their targets. Those wonderful birds contributed as much to the exit of the enemy as our efforts on the ground did. Can’t thank them enough; especially when I am reminded of the danger due particularly to their slow speed and sheer size so close to the ground. My hat is off to this gentleman and all others who served in such an often forgotten dangerous rescue to all ground personnel when eeded. May God bless this man.
After all those years, you’re home now CSM Morgan.
Rest in Peace.
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