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Name:
James Rickey Maxwell |
Source:
Compiled by P.O.W. NETWORK April 1995 from one or more of the
following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources,
correspondence with POW/MIA families, published sources,
interviews.
Other Personnel in Incident: Lynn Blessing; Walter Boyd;
Gregory S. Copenhaver; Andres Garcia; Bernard Gause Jr., James J.
Jacques; Ronald J. Manning; Daniel A. Benedett; Richard W.
Rivenburgh; Antonio R. Sandoval; Kelton R. Turner; Richard Van de
Geer (all missing on CH53A); Gary L. Hall; Joseph N. Hargrove;
Danny G. Marshall (missing on Koah Tang Island); Ashton N. Loney
(missing from Koah Tang Island); Elwood E. Rumbaugh (missing from
a CH53A)
REMARKS: 750515
MAYAGUEZ INCIDENT LOSS
SYNOPSIS: When U.S.
troops were pulled out of Southeast Asia in early 1975,
Vietnamese communist troops began capturing one city after
another, with Hue, Da Nang and Ban Me Thuot in March, Xuan Loc in
April, and finally on April 30, Saigon. In Cambodia, communist
Khmer Rouge had captured the capital city of Phnom Penh on April
17. The last Americans were evacuated from Saigon during
"Option IV", with U.S. Ambassador Martin departing on
April 29. The war, according to President Ford, "was
finished."
2Lt. Richard Van de Geer, assigned to the 21st Special Ops
Squadron at NKP, had participated in the evacuation of Saigon,
where helicopter pilots were required to fly from the decks of
the 7th Fleet carriers stationed some 500 miles offshore, fly
over armed enemy-held territory, collect American and allied
personnel and return to the carriers via the same hazardous
route, heavily loaded with passengers. Van de Geer wrote to a
friend, "We pulled out close to 2,000 people. We couldn't
pull out any more because it was beyond human endurance to go any
more."
At 11:21 a.m. on May 12, the U.S. merchant ship MAYAGUEZ was
seized by the Khmer Rouge in the Gulf of Siam about 60 miles from
the Cambodian coastline and eight miles from Poulo Wai island.
The ship, owned by Sea-Land Corporation, was en route to
Sattahip, Thailand from Hong Kong, carrying a non-arms cargo for
military bases in Thailand.
Capt. Charles T. Miller, a veteran of more than 40 years at sea,
was on the bridge. He had steered the ship within the boundaries
of international waters, but the Cambodians had recently claimed
territorial waters 90 miles from the coast of Cambodia. The
thirty-nine seamen aboard were taken prisoner.
President Ford ordered the aircraft carrier USS CORAL SEA, the
guided missile destroyer USS HENRY B. WILSON and the USS HOLT to
the area of seizure. By night, a U.S. reconnaissance aircraft
located the MAYAGUEZ at anchor off Poulo WaI island. Plans were
made to rescue the crew. A battalion landing team of 1,100
Marines was ordered flown from bases in Okinawa and the
Philippines to assemblE at Utapao, Thailand in preparation for
the assault.
The first casualties of the effort to free the MAYAGUEZ are
recorded on May 13 when a helicopter carrying Air Force security
team personnel crashed en route to Utapao, killing all 23 aboard.
Early in the morning of May 13, the Mayaguez was ordered to head
for Koh Tang island. Its crew was loaded aboard a Thai fishing
boat and taken first to Koh Tang, then to the mainland city of
Kompong Song, then to Rong San Lem island. U.S. intelligence had
observed a cove with considerable activity on the island of Koh
Tang, a small five-mile long island about 35 miles off the coast
of Cambodia southwest of the city of Sihanoukville (Kampong
Saom), and believed that some of the crew might be held there.
They also knew of the Thai fishing boat, and had observed what
appeared to be caucasians aboard it, but it could not be
determined if some or all of the crew was aboard.
The USS HOLT was ordered to seize and secure the MAYAGUEZ, still
anchored off Koh Tang. Marines were to land on the island and
rescue any of the crew. Navy jets from the USS CORAL SEA were to
make four strikes on military installments on the Cambodian
mainland.
On May 15, the first wave of 179 Marines headed for the island
aboard eight Air Force "Jolly Green Giant" helicopters.
Three Air Force helicopters unloaded Marines from the 1st
Battalion, 4th Marines onto the landing pad of the USS HOLT and
then headed back to Utapao to pick up the second wave of Marines.
Planes dropped tear gas on the MAYAGUEZ, and the USS HOLT pulled
up along side the vessel and the Marines stormed aboard. The
MAYAGUEZ was deserted.
Simultaneously, the Marines of the 2/9 were making their landings
on two other areas of the island. The eastern landing zone was on
the cove side where the Cambodian compound was located. The
western landing zone was a narrow spit of beach about 500 feet
behind the compound on the other side of the island. The Marines
hoped to surround the compound.
As the first troops began to unload on both beaches, the
Cambodians opened fire. On the western beach, one helicopter was
hit and flew off crippled, to ditch in the ocean about 1 mile
away. The pilot had just disembarked his
passengers, and he was rescued at sea.
Meanwhile, the eastern landing zone had become a disaster. The
first two helicopters landing were met by enemy fire. Ground
commander, (now) Col. Randall W. Austin had been told to expect
between 20 and 40 Khmer Rouge soldiers on the island. Instead,
between 150 and 200 were encountered. First, Lt. John Shramm's
helicopter tore apart and crashed into the surf after the rotor
system was hit. All aboard made a dash for the tree line on the
beach.
One CH53A helicopter was flown by U.S. Air Force Major Howard
Corson and 2Lt. Richard Van de Geer and carrying 23 U.S. Marines
and 2 U.S. Navy corpsmen, all from the 2nd Battalion, 9th
Marines. As the helicopter approached the island, it was caught
in a cross fire and hit by a rocket. The severely damaged
helicopter crashed into the sea just off the coast of the island
and exploded. re forced to swim out to sea for rescue. Twelve
aboard, including Maj. Corson, were rescued. Those missing from
the helicopter were 2Lt. Richard Van de Geer, PFC Daniel A.
Benedett, PFC Lynn Blessing, PFC Walter Boyd, Lcpl. Gregory S.
Copenhaver, Lcpl. Andres Garcia,PFC James J. Jacques, PFC James
R. Maxwell, PFC Richard W. Rivenburgh, PFC Antonio R. Sandoval,
PFC Kelton R. Turner, all U.S. Marines. Also missing were HM1
Bernard Gause, Jr. and HM Ronald J. Manning, the two corpsmen.
Other helicopters were more successful in
landing their passengers. One CH53A, however was not. SSgt.
Elwood E. Rumbaugh's aircraft was near the coastline when it was
shot down. Rumbaugh is the only missing man from the aircraft.
The passengers were safely extracted. (It is not known whether
the passengers went down with the aircraft or whether they were
rescued from the island.)
By midmorning, when the Cambodians on the mainland began
receiving reports of the assault, they ordered the crew of the
MAYAGUEZ on a Thai boat, and then left. The MAYAGUEZ crew was
recovered by the USS WILSON before the second wave of Marines was
deployed, but the second wave was ordered to attack anyway.
Late in the afternoon, the assault force had consolidated its
position on the western landing zone and the eastern landing zone
was evacuated at 6:00 p.m. By the end of the 14-hour operation,
most of the Marines were extracted from the island safely, with
50 wounded. Lcpl. Ashton Loney had been killed by enemy fire, but
his body could not be recovered.
Protecting the perimeter during the final evacuation was the
machine gun squad of PFC Gary L. Hall, Lcpl. Joseph N. Hargrove
and Pvt. Danny G. Marshall. They had run out of ammunition and
were ordered to evacuate on the last helicopter. It was their
last contact. Maj. McNemar and Maj. James H. Davis made a final
sweep of the beach before boarding the helicopter and were unable
to locate them. They were declared Missing in Action.
The eighteen men missing from the MAYAGUEZ incident are listed
among the missing from the Vietnam war. Although authorities
believe that there are perhaps hundreds of American prisoners
still alive in Southeast Asia from the war, most are pessimistic
about the fates of those captured by the Khmer Rouge.
In 1988, the communist government of Kampuchea (Cambodia)
announced that it wished to return the remains of several dozen
Americans to the United States. (In fact, the number was higher
than the official number of Americans missing in Cambodia.)
Because the U.S. does not officially recognize the Cambodian
government, it has refused to respond directly to the Cambodians
regarding the remains. Cambodia, wishing a direct acknowledgment
from the U.S. Government,
still holds the remains.
As long as
even one American remains alive, held against his will, we must
do everything possible to bring him home alive.
POW/MIA Data & Bios supplied by the P.O.W. NETWORK Skidmore, MO. USA