CURTIS RICHARD SMOOT
.
.
SFC - Army - Regular
Rank/Branch: E5/US Army
Unit: Troop A, 1st Squadron,
9th Cavalry, 1st Cav Division (AMBL)
28 year old Single, Negro, Male
Date of Birth: 09 December 1949
(Bogaloosa LA)
Home City of Record: VARNADO,
LOUISIANA
His tour of duty began on Mar
10, 1971
Date of Loss: 10 March 1971
Casualty was on Oct 30, 1978
Country of Loss: CAMBODIA
Loss Coordinates: 121444N 1062255E
(XU503540)
Status (in 1973): Missing in
Action
Hostile, died while missing
HELICOPTER - CREW
AIR LOSS, CRASH ON LAND
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: OH6A
Body was not recovered
Refno: 1722
Religion
BAPTIST
Panel 04W - - Line 36
Other Personnel in Incident:
WO1 Craig J. Houser (escaped); SP4 Robert Kiser
(remains recovered)
Category: 2
Source:
Compiled from one or more of the following: raw data from U.S.
Government agency sources, correspondence
with POW/MIA families,
published sources, interviews.
Updated by the P.O.W. NETWORK in 1998.
REMARKS:
SYNOPSIS:
On March 10, 1971, WO Craig Houser, pilot, SP4 Robert Kiser, crew
chief, and Sgt. Curtis R. Smoot,
door gunner, were flying in an OH6A (serial
#67-17412) on a visual reconnaissance
mission over Kracheh Province,
Cambodia just southwest of the
city of Phumi Sre Roneam.
At about 1400 hours, while making
a low pass over a suspected enemy
position, the helicopter was
hit by an enemy rocket and crashed. The
helicopter landed on the bank
of a river, burst into flames, and fell into
the river. The crash occurred
in the vicinity of the recon. A team of ARVN
and two U.S. Army enlisted men
were inserted into the area to search for
survivors and recover aircraft
parts. At that time, the body of SP4 Kiser
was recovered. Due to darkness,
the search team was extracted.
On March 13, WO1 Houser returned
to military control, having evaded capture
and walked to a friendly position.
He reported that he had not seen Sgt.
Smoot after the aircraft had
hit.
No sign was ever found of Sgt.
Curtis Smoot, alive or dead. He is listed
among nearly 2500 Americans
still missing, prisoner or otherwise unaccounted
for in Southeast Asia.
When the war ended, 591 Americans
were released from communist prisons in
Vietnam, but Smoot was not among
them. Since that time, thousands of reports
received have convinced many
authorities that hundreds of Americans are
still being held captive in
Southeast Asia. Curtis Smoot could well be one
of them. If so, what must he
be thinking of us?
Back
to Jon-An's MIA's