This Military Service Page was created/owned by
A1C Robert Mazza
to remember
Hill, Richard Dale, A2C.
If you knew or served with this Airman and have additional information or photos to support this Page, please leave a message for the Page Administrator(s) HERE.
Capt. Thomas F. Gorton and Airman 2nd Class Richard D. Hill were crewmembers onboard a B-26B which went down in South Vietnam in the early years. The aircraft had been on a photo reconnaissance mission near the coast of Kien Hoa Province. Hill was an aerial photographer while Gorton was part of the flight crew. The aircraft crash site was located about 40 miles south-southeast of Saigon near the mouth of the Mekong River in about five feet of water. No personnel were aboard. The remains of the pilot and navigator were subsequently located which indicated that these men had tried to swim away after the crash. Hill and Gorton could not be found. The two were first classified Missing in Action but their status was later changed to Killed in Action/Body Not recovered. Gorton and Hill are listed among the missing because their remains were never found to send home to the country he served.
Richard Hill was an aerial photographer from the 21st Armamnent and Electronics Maintenance Squadron, 1st Air Commandos. He was operating the on-board cameras on RB-26L, serial number 44-35782, flying out of Bien Hoa Air Base, RVN when it crashed in shallow water near Binh Dai in the mouth of the Mekong River 40 miles south of Saigon.
44-35782 converted to B-26B.
Participated in Bay of Pigs invasion
Returned to USAF at Hill AFB in 1962.
Converted to RB-26L. Sent to Vietnam
in Mar 1963 under *Farm Gate*.
Terminated at Tainan
Other Comments:
This Veteran has an (IMO) In Memory Of Headstone in Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial, Hawaii with another memorial in Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, VA.
Description November 15, 1961-March 1, 1965 .
On November 15, 1961, the 2d Advanced Echelon (2d ADVON) was activated in Saigon, capital of the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam). The 2d ADVON, administratively part of the Thirteenth Air Force, controlled USAF units operating in Vietnam and reported to the Military Assistance Advisory Group, Vietnam. The 4400th Combat Crew Training Squadron's FARM GATE detachment arrived on November 16. The FARM GATE, organization, although trained for counter insurgency combat, for about 2 months limited its mission to training Vietnamese aircrews and supporting with reconnaissance flights the operations of the Vietnamese Air Force (VNAF). Activation of the 2d ADVON and arrival of the FARM GATE detachment heralded the buildup of the United States Air Force presence in Vietnam.
Responding to the Republic of Vietnam's appeal in December 1961 for increased military aid to counter Communist (Viet Cong) insurgents, the United States gradually increased its forces. From January 2 to 5, 1962, for example, the USAF moved a tactical air control system to South Vietnam and landed equipment and personnel at Tan Son Nhut Air Base (AB) in Saigon; Bien Hoa AB, I5 miles north of Saigon; Da Nang AB, 375 miles northeast of Saigon; Pleiku AB, in the Central Highlands 230 miles northeast of Saigon; and Nha Trang AB, on the coast, a little less than 200 miles northeast of Saigon. Shortly afterwards, on January 7, a flight of C-l23s equipped for aerial spray missions arrived at Tan Son Nhut. Code-named RANCH HAND, this USAF detachment 3 days later began defoliation operations that continued for 9 years.
To manage U.S. forces in Vietnam, the Commander in Chief, Pacific Command, at the direction of President John F. Kennedy and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, created Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV) on February 8, 1962. Army Gen. Paul D. Harkins was named the first Commander of MACV. The 2d ADVON became the air component of the new command. A few months later, on October 8, the USAF activated the 2d Air Division, which replaced the 2d ADVON. In spite of increased U.S. aid, the Viet Cong insurgency grew, and the government of South Vietnam faced growing civil disorder. A year later, on November 1, 1963, a group of South Vietnamese military officers deposed President Ngo Dinh Diem in a coup détat, and not until June 1965 would the South Vietnamese establish a reasonably stable government. Meanwhile, on June 20, 1964, Anny Gen. William C. Westmoreland became Commander of MACV.
Communist insurgents also operated actively in Laos, and in May 1964 United States involvement in Southeast Asia expanded to include military aid to that country. On June 9, F-100s flying from Takhli Air Base, Thailand, about 110 miles north of Bangkok, made the first USAF strike in Laos. Air Force pilots bombed an antiaircraft installation at Xiangkhoang, on the Plain of Jars, about 100 miles northeast of Vientiane, the Laotian capital. In December 1964 the USAF launched an air interdiction campaign against the Ho Chi Minh Trail, a network of roads, trails, and waterways in the southern Laotian panhandle.
The nature of the conflict in Southeast Asia changed dramatically in late 1964. On August 2 and 4 torpedo boats from North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) attacked U.S. naval vessels in the Gulf of Tonkin- On the 5th, U.S. naval aircraft launched retaliatory air strikes against coastal targets in North Vietnam. That same day the USAF deployed B-57s to Bien Hoa AB and F-100s to Da Nang AB. Then in December 1964 the Viet Cong used conventional field rather than hit-and-run tactics to drive South Vietnamese forces temporarily from Binh Gia, near the coast, only 40 miles southeast of Saigon. For both North and South Vietnam governmental authorities this battle marked an escalation of the conflict. As the war rapidly intensified, on February 7, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson ordered American dependents evacuated from South Vietnam. The same day the Viet Cong shelled Pleiku Air Base. In retaliation, the USAF conducted its first raid against North Vietnam on the 8th,
hitting a target just north of the 17th parallel.
