6 Vietnam MIAs Get Arlington Burial
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With a helicopter fly-by and Arlington National Cemetery as a backdrop, six airmen whose remains were missing in Vietnam until recently were buried. More than 100 people turned out for the funeral of the six, missing for 25 years. They were portrayed in the 1988 movie “Bat 21,” starring Gene Hackman and Danny Glover. The men were on a search-and-rescue operation aboard a Sikorsky HH-53 helicopter near Dong Ha on April 6, 1972, to rescue two downed airmen when the helicopter was shot down. The airmen the crew was trying to rescue were later found alive. One of the men saved, retired Lt. Col. Iceal “Gene” Hambleton, sent a letter to be read at the service. “It was the most terrible day I had ever lived,” Hambleton wrote. “I had to stand by and watch six young men die trying to save my life. Heroes, you bet they were.” The other downed airman, retired Col. Mark Clark, who attended the service, said: “Have no doubt, those men were heroes.”
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