Gerald Robert Helmich

Lieutenant Colonel Helmich was a member of the 6th Special Operations Squadron, Pleiku Air Base, South Vietnam. On November 12, 1969, he was the pilot of a Douglas Attack Skyraider (A-1H) on a search and recovery mission 1 mile south of Ban Senphan and along the Nam Mo River in Laos. He made a covering pass at the enemy while a rescue helicopter successfully recovered the downed airmen, then his aircraft was hit by hostile fire, crashed and exploded. His remains were not recovered. His name is inscribed on the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial.