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This Remembrance Profile was originally created by Sgt Stephen Willcox - Deceased
Casualty Info
Home Town Orland
Last Address Tan Son Nhut AB
Casualty Date Jan 07, 1966
Cause KIA-Killed in Action
Reason Air Loss, Crash - Land
Location Pleiku (Vietnam)
Conflict Vietnam War
Location of Interment Masonic Cemetery - Orland, California
Captain Dixon was flying combat missions in Vietnam from Mactan AFB in the Philippines in 1965 and it appears elements (including the 774th Troop Carrier Squadron) of the 463th Troop Carrier Wing at Mactan AFB were temporarily based at Tan Son Nhut in 1966 as part of a rotation. He seems to have been at Pleiku, and TDY to the 315th Air Commando Group in Vietnam.
On 7 January 1966, a C-130 with five Air Force crew members aboard, including Capt. Richard J. Callanan, Capt Lee C. Dixon, Navigator, 1st Lt. Jon A. Greenley, SSgt James R. Lute and Airman 2nd Class Lowell F. White, crashed. The aircraft departed Tan Son Nhut AB on a resupply mission and while in the process of entering into a landing pattern south of Pleiku, at approximately 1,500 feet altitude, it was observed to explode due to ground fire and crash. The remains Captain Dixon were recovered.
Source: http://memwall.usafalibrary.com
"Air Force Academy Accepts 774th Memorial Book Fund
A memorial book fund has been accepted by the Air Force Academy in honor of five Mactan Air Base flyers who lost their lives in action in Vietnam.
The fund of $240 was raised by members of the 774th Troop Carrier Sq. and was contributed to the friends of the deceased crewmembers and by other units here. It will bear memorial bookplates.
The bookplates bear the Academy Seal and the inscription: 'In Memory of Capt. R.J. Callanan, Capt L.C. Dixon, AFB Class '61, 1st Lt. J.A. Greenley, SSgt J.R. Lute, A1C L.F. White, Lost in Vietnam 7 January 1966."
Source: The Yankee Doodle, Page 11, Sept 19, 1966 (The Yankee Doodle is an official Class 2 U.S. Air Force publication, published for USAF personnel at Mactan AB, Republic of the Philippines...)