This Military Service Page was created/owned by
A3C Michael S. Bell (Unit Historian)
to remember
Stuifbergen, Gene Paul, SSgt.
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.
On 27 Nov 1968, a UH-1F Huey (tail number 65-07942) of the 20th SOS was tasked to insert a 6-man mixed US/ARVN Special Forces team into an enemy bivouac area near Phu Nhai village, Rotanokiri Province, Cambodia. The aircraft was crewed by:
Pilot, name unknown
MAJ John B. Walker, copilot
S/SGt Gene Paul Stuifbergen, flight mechanic
T/Sgt Victor R. Adams, crew chief
As the Huey made a steep descent to an intended hover to off-load the team, it came under heavy fire. The gunfire damaged the Huey's flight controls and the aircraft crashed and burst into flames. Five men - the two pilots, T/Sgt Adams, and two American team members were able to escape, but the other five men died in the crash. Several attempts were made to recover the remains of the five men but were unsuccessful due to stiff enemy resistance. Post-war investigation of the crash site was stymied by the presence of extensive mine fields, and his remains have not been repatriated. From another Green Hornet, Robert Hall
This Veteran has an (IMO) In Memory Of Headstone in Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial, Hawaii and another at Augusta Cemetery, Augusta, Kalamazoo County, MI
Other Comments:
On November 27, 1968 flight mechanic SSGT Gene P. Stuifbergen, co-pilot MAJ John B. Walker, flight mechanic TSGT Victor R. Adams, and the pilot (USAF Casuality File has the pilots name, a major, blanked out in the report), were aboard a UH-1F helicopter, (#65-7942), on a combat mission over Cambodia. During the mission, the helicopter was in a hover about 10 feet above the ground over a landing zone, when it was hit by enemy ground fire. The helicopter rolled to the left, crashed and burned in the vicinity of grid coordinates YA 700 200, approximately 10 nautical miles west of Duc Co, South Vietnam. Recovery efforts were initiated, resulting in the rescue of MAJ Walker, TSGT Adams, and the pilot, all of whom escaped from the burning wreckage. SSGT Stuifbergen was pinned underneath the aircraft wreckage and his death was apparently instantaneous. Because of hostile action in the area, his remains were not recovered, his status dead, body not recovered. [Taken from pownetwork.org and vhpa.org]
