DUSTOFF 90
ONE MISSION STILL OUT

By Don Caldwell

On the evening of February 12, 1968, Aircraft Commander 1LT Jerry Lee Roe, call sign Dustoff 90, and his crew: WO2 Alan Gunn, pilot, Sp/5 Wade L. Groth, Crew chief and their Medic, Sp/5 Harry W. Brown departed Ban Me Thuot in their UH1H for an Urgent Medevac at the Gia Nghai Special Forces Camp. They were of the 50th Medical Detachment (HA), normally stationed at Tuy Hoa, and were on stand by at Ban Me Thuot in support of Special Forces Operations in the area.

At approximately 2019 hrs, Dustoff 90's blip disappeared from the USAF Tac Control Radar Screen. There was no "May Day" call or indication that there were any problems. That last position would have put them close to the top of a mountain we commonly called "VC Mountain". The mountain had plenty of Triple A and small arms fire from the enemy, so it was normally avoided like the plague. Yet the coordinates given for the last contact was about 100 meters from the top of the mountain.

Helicopter crews from the 155th AHC were dispatched for Search and Rescue operations. An Air Force A1E Sandy joined the search and reported seeing "fire and lights" on the mountain. The following morning, a helicopter crew from the 50th Med. Det. (HA) piloted by the unit's Commanding Officer, MAJ Ronald C. Jones and the unit's XO, CPT Ronnie Porta, arrived and joined the search and rescue effort. A Special Forces soldier using a "Sniffer" device, which detects the presence of ammonia in human urine, also joined the crew. Flying low and slow over a mountain that you normally could not fly close to made the search seem almost surrealistic. We could have reached out and picked the leaves off the trees. It was unbelievable.

SOP for Search and Rescue Operations: After three days of searching, if the crew or helicopter had not been sighted, the operation was suspended and the crew listed as Missing In Action. Per SOP the Search and Rescue operation was officially suspended but many pilots from the 50th Med. Det. (HA) would continue to search during missions in the area.

Now things begin to get strange. It's 1970, and Ronnie Porta is back in Vietnam as a Major and in command of his own Dustoff unit. He receives a call at Cu Chi from a friend at Ban Me Thuot who was there when Dustoff 90 went down. His friend tells him that the aircraft was found intact, minus rotor blades, of course. His friend believed the crash was survivable. They found an Ambu Bag, a pair of goldrimmed glasses, spent M-79, M-16, and .30 Cal Carbine ammo casings, and part of a flak jacket.

Memorial Day, 1986: I had a report pulled from the POW/MIA database maintained by the National League of POW/MIA Families. 1LT Roe and Sp/5 Brown were identified as POWs. In April of 1969 the CIA was asked to analyze a positive identification by a "Rallier" who had selected their pictures from a book of personnel listed as Missing In Action. The CIA had determined that it was only a "coincidence" that a "Rallier" could positively ID two people from the same helicopter crew; one black, one white, one located in the front of the book under Brown, and the other listed near the back of the book under Roe? According to the "Rallier" the location of the POW compound where they were being held at the time was 2 ½ miles from Camp Eagle, "home" to the 101st Airborne.

I decided to look up Wade Groth also. In 1979, approximately 6 years after all POW/MIA's not returned in "Operation Homecoming" had been declared dead by both Hanoi and Washington, Groth had been seen alive and in good condition in a place called Bong Song about 40 miles south of Hanoi, working on a railroad section. An IRA gunrunner by the name of Sean O'Toolis spoke to Groth, Brendon Foley, and another POW named MacDonald. O'Toolis was able to obtain a fingerprint of Foley and a note for his brother. He gave the CIA sketch artist a description so accurate it was easy to tell it was Groth, red hair, freckles and all. O'Toolis' word supposedly couldn't be "trusted". He was a gunrunner and worked for the IRA, and was therefore disreputable in our government's eyes. Since he freely took this evidence to the CIA I would think he had some connections there.

October 26, 1992: A search team finds what they believe is the burn spot left by a crashed and burned UH1H. They also find the same things I mentioned before, Ambu Bag, gold rimmed glasses, part of a flak jacket, spent M-79 casings, and all the rest; but they are here to bury this crew, not to find them (my personal view). So, due to the size and depth of the burn spot the team reported that the aircraft crashed into the mountain with such force that it exploded and the entire crew was killed. Excuse me, but the search team grossly over-simplified their "findings" on this point, 22 years after the aircraft had been found comparatively intact in 1970. (No human remains were found!)

What really happened to Jerry Roe and the crew? Are they POW's or are they dead? I am looking for anyone from the 155th AHC who may have witnessed the finding of Dustoff 90's helicopter in 1970, or the person who called MAJ Porta with the information.

The standard procedure when I was in Vietnam (67-68) was, if the aircraft couldn't be recovered it was to be destroyed in place. In other words, the helicopter would have been blown up or burned by our side. So, if an otherwise intact "bird" had been blown in place by our forces, then this search team, not knowing this, would naturally come to the wrong conclusions, based only on what they saw at the crash site. You would think also that nearly everyone "in the business" would know the difference between spent rounds that have been fired and those that have simply exploded in a fire. The implication, of course, is plain. If the cartridge casings were from fired rounds, then Dustoff 90's crew was alive enough to engage in a firefight after they were on the ground.

They were never confirmed KIA (Killed In Action). Three of them were reported as having been seen alive. Therefore, they are still Missing In Action! We have one mission still out: DUSTOFF 90. dead? I am looking for anyone from the 155th AHC who may have witnessed the finding of Dustoff 90's helicopter in 1970, or the person who called MAJ Porta with the information.

The standard procedure when I was in Vietnam (67-68) was, if the aircraft couldn't be recovered it was to be destroyed in place. In other words, the helicopter would have been blown up or burned by our side. So, if an otherwise intact "bird" had been blown in place by our forces, then this search team, not knowing this, would naturally come to the wrong conclusions, based only on what they saw at the crash site. You would think also that nearly everyone "in the business" would know the difference between spent rounds that have been fired and those that have simply exploded in a fire. The implication, of course, is plain. If the cartridge casings were from fired rounds, then Dustoff 90's crew was alive enough to engage in a firefight after they were on the ground.

They were never confirmed KIA (Killed In Action). Three of them were reported as having been seen alive. Therefore, they are still Missing In Action! We have one mission still out: DUSTOFF 90.

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