This month we will cover Michigan’s Vietnam MIA from March 1966 – March 1971. We also have wonderful news on the recovery of two of the MIA personnel profiled here in last December’s story “The Lost Men of World War II.” First, the good news.

81 years after his disappearance, WWII U.S. Army Air Forces 2LT Francis E. Callahan, the 22-year-old navigator of the missing B-24 Liberator Little Joe (#42-521850), was returned to his family for burial at Arlington National Cemetery. Pictured is his niece, Kathleen Callahan-Kaminski, receiving his burial flag on February 24, 2025.

Kathleen Callahan-Kaminski receives her uncle’s flag, 2LT Francis E. Callahan

Also after a loss of 81 years, 22-year-old waist gunner, U.S. Army Air Forces SSG Yuen Hop, was returned to California after being shot down over Germany. Seen here is his 96-year-old sister, Margery Wong, being presented with his burial flag at Golden Gate National Cemetery, February 5, 2025.

Margery Wong finally greets her big brother again, SSG Yuen Hop

Never give up.

We lead with the almost unbelievable story of 22-year-old U.S. Army Sergeant Harry Medford Beckwith, III of Lansing, MI. SGT Beckwith served with Troop D, 3rd Squadron, 5th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 5th Infantry Division; this was already his third tour of duty in Vietnam. He was determined to make a lifelong career in the Army just like his father, Sargeant Major Harry Medford Beckwith, Jr., who was likewise in Vietnam after having served in both WWII and the Korean War. SGT Beckwith had already been hospitalized a few times but talked his way back into active combat after beating two U.S. medical boards. For his latest exploits during April of 1970, he had been awarded the Silver Star for holding off enemy troops with a machine gun and providing safe evacuation for his men while severely wounded from a grenade attack on the tank he was commanding. SGM Beckwith was present at his son’s award ceremony and noted approvingly that “he was bullheaded, just like me.”

Tragedy had struck the Beckwith’s in 1962 when their two youngest children, ages 11 and 9, had both drowned in a surprise flash flood, so Harry, the eldest, was the only one left. He was resolute in his decision to do himself, and his parents, proud in the military.

Events took another fateful turn for the family on March 24, 1971. SGT Beckwith was a crewmember on an OH-58A Kiowa that was hit by enemy anti-aircraft fire that then crashed shortly after departing Ham Nhi, South Vietnam. An extraction helicopter team was quickly dispatched to the crash site to recover his body, which they did. Once they were aloft, that aircraft also came under enemy fire and had to take quick evasive action. While executing an escape maneuver, SGT Beckwith’s remains fell through the helicopter door to the ground. Attempts by search aircraft to locate it proved unsuccessful, and his DPAA status was assigned as unaccounted for, Non-recoverable.

SGT Harry Medford Beckwith, III is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (Punchbowl). His name is also inscribed along with all his fallen comrades on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, DC.

There is a memorial cenotaph for SGT Beckwith located next to his two young siblings, his mother, and SGM Harry Medford Beckwith, Jr. in Section 1079 of Beverly National Cemetery in Beverly, New Jersey.

24-year-old Naval flier from Attack Squadron 55, CDR Donald Joseph Woloszyk of Alpena, MI was solo piloting an A-4E Skyhawk (bureau number 152057, call sign "Garfish 401") on March 1, 1966. He launched from the USS Ranger (CV 61) as the second of four aircraft embarking on an armed recon mission over North Vietnam. CDR Woloszyk radioed that he was going to follow one of the other aircraft as he had lost sight of the leader in heavy clouds; he was not heard from again. After extensive searches, neither he nor a crash site were located. CDR Woloszyk’s DPAA status remains unaccounted for, Active Pursuit.

He is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, and his name inscribed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, DC. CDR Woloszyk also has a memorial cenotaph at Holy Cross Cemetery in Alpena close to his parents’ graves.

Four members of U.S. Army 128th Assault Helecopter Company,11th Aviation Battalion, 12th Aviation Group, 1st Aviation Brigade set out on a troop insertion mission in Cambodia. On March 17, 1971, their UH-1 Iroquois (tail number 16664) was shot down by heavy enemy ground fire. Aboard were crew chief SSG Craig Mitchell Dix, 21, of Livonia, MI; pilot CW3 Richard Lee Bauman, 22, of OH; co-pilot CW2 James Hardy Hestand, 21, of OK; and gunner SSG Bobby Glenn Harris, 19, of TX. SSG Harris was blown out of the door of the Huey when it was hit with gunfire before it impacted the ground. The bodies of the remaining crewmen were not found during search attempts at the time, and they were listed as unaccounted for.

Only four of the five are memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, and their names inscribed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, DC.

Not appearing on the monuments is CW2 James Hestand, who somehow managed to survive the crash but was taken prisoner almost immediately. He was freed February 12, 1973, in a group of 28 American POWs (18 servicemen and eight civilians) released by the Viet Cong at Loc Ninh, South Vietnam, about 10 miles south of Cambodia.

On December 2, 2002, DPAA announced that SSG Bobby Harris’ remains were located by a joint U.S. / Cambodian investigative team. He was finally returned to the U.S. and buried at Fort Gibson National Cemetery in Muskogee County, OK, on September 3, 2004. Besides family members and the huge throng of well-wishers present to honor SSG Harris was CW2 Hestand, who spoke of SSG Harris’ final gallant moments of battle.

Based on all information available, DPAA assessed missing team members’ SSG Dix and CW3 Bauman’s cases to be in the analytical category of Active Pursuit.

On March 25, 1969, three team members of the U.S. Army 4th Infantry Division were conducting a road interdiction in Kontum Province, South Vietnam. Their unit became involved in a firefight with enemy forces, and one member, SFC Prentice Wayne Hicks, 22, from AL, was seriously injured. Two team members, 20-year-old SFC Richard Dean Roberts of Lansing, MI and 19-year-old SFC Frederick Daniel Herrera of NM, loaded SFC Hicks onto a litter (military stretcher) and proceeded down a hill. At some point while being fired upon again, the three became separated from the rest of their unit and disappeared. A search April 5 by a recon team found some personal possessions, but no other signs of the three men; they were designated as unaccounted for.

According to Lansing State Journal reports, SFC Roberts had finished basic and advanced infantry training at Fort Polk (now Fort Johnson) the beginning of January, and by March 19 was assigned to the 4th Infantry near Pleiku, Vietnam; he went missing six days later. He left behind his parents; wife, Linda; and 2-year-old daughter, Melinda.

The three riflemen are memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, and their names inscribed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, DC. SFC Herrera also has a memorial cenotaph at Santa Fe National Cemetery next to his parents’ headstones. SFC Roberts’ double-sided cenotaph is at Mount Rest Cemetery in St. Johns, MI next to his daughter.

DPAA assessed their case status to be in the analytical category of Active Pursuit.

SFC Richard Dean Roberts’ cenotaph next to his sister’s headstone (Photo: Russ Rademacher, Mount Rest Cemetery)

Two aircraft embarked on an emergency medical evacuation mission from Hue-Phu Bai to Da Nang, South Vietnam, on March 26, 1968. A crew of four plus three patients were flying as wingman in poor visibility conditions. Their pilot put the UH-34D Choctaw (bureau #144654, call sign “Murray Medevac Chase”) on instruments so that he could better try to see the lead aircraft. While under instrument control the copter went into a sudden nose-dive into the South China Sea. Search and rescue immediately got to the crash site and were able to rescue the pilot and co-pilot. However, the crew chief, CPL Larry Edward Green, 21, of Mt. Morris, MI and aerial gunner, LCPL Ernest Claney Kerr, Jr., 21, of OH perished as did the three patients they were transporting: LTCOL Frankie Eugene Allgood, 37, of KS; CPL Glenn William Mowrey, 21, of OH; and LCPL Richard Evancho, 20, of PA. None of their bodies were recovered and their status assigned as unaccounted for.

The names of the five are memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific and are inscribed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, DC. In addition, LCPL Evancho (St. Mary’s Byzantine Catholic Cemetery); CPL Mowrey (Overly Chapel Cemetery); and LCPL Kerr, Jr. (Hillside Memorial Park) have memorial cenotaphs at their family cemeteries.

Based on all information available, DPAA assessed their cases to be in the analytical category of Active Pursuit.

On March 2, 1969, Vassar, MI native, U.S. Army SP5 Michael Frederic May, age 24, of SOA-C5 5th SFG, and ten other members of a Special Ops recon team embarked for a combat mission in Cambodia. As they approached their objective, enemy fire wounded one soldier in an ambush and the team retreated to elevated ground. Their call for a friendly gunship provided a temporary reprieve, but the enemy attacked again once it had departed. A rocket shot at the team exploded just over their heads wounding eight and killing two, SP5 May and team leader, SGT William Anthony Evans, 20, of WI. The wounded team members were able to escape, but they could not retrieve the two bodies as they were again overrun by the enemy. The two were subsequently listed as unaccounted for.

Both men are memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. Their names are also inscribed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, DC.

Based on all information available, DPAA assessed their cases to be in the analytical category of Active Pursuit.

SGT Evans was the eldest of eight children. His father, a WWII Army veteran, was described as inconsolable after his son was lost and reportedly commit suicide a year later at age 42.

SP5 May’s family disclosed that he was a very gifted athlete in an array of sports, setting state records in high school and college. His military basic training was at Fort Knox (KY) followed by his Green Beret training at Fort Bragg (NC). He was posthumously honored by the Special Forces Association of Michigan by having a chapter named after him, The Michael May Memorial Chapter (SFA Chapter LV).

OH, LIFE OF MY LIFE

Oh, where lie your bones, oh, flesh of my flesh,
Oh, first-born pride of a mother's travail?
Do they lie exposed in green jungle mesh
Where greedy growth hides all hint of a trail?

Oh, where lie your bones, oh, blood of my blood,
Oh, sweet-bitter promise born of my womb;
Relentlessly washed by tropical flood;
Sun-bleached, abandoned without any tomb?

No clue found to mark where you bled
Nor a survivor that carnage to tell.
No body to mourn, no stone for your head,
No remains shipped from Cambodian hell.

Posthumous medals awarded your strife.
Oh, sad recompense, oh, life of my life.

Memorial poem written by Doris Kennard for her lost son, SP5 Michael Frederic May

Credits: Marty Eddy, Michigan Coordinator, National League of POW/MIA Families; DPAA; Lansing State Journal (4/10/1969); Baltimore Sun (8/20/1971; Flint Journal (8/25/1971); USAF; family photos

Our Missing Men of March

The story behind National Vietnam War Veterans Day