The crew and passengers of RG-407 gave their lives during the Vietnam War when their C-2A Greyhound crashed into the South China Sea on 12 December, 1971.  The passengers were a Direct Support team of Navy Cryptologists on their way to the USS Enterprise.  The plane crashed a mere 74 minutes from the designated war zone.  To this day, despite repeated petitions, none of the 10 service members are enshrined on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.Station HYPO remembered this event in a previous blog post.

The service members killed in the crash are listed below:

The Crew
                            Rank Name Age Squadron Home of Record
                            LT Vetal C. LaMountain 28 VRC-50 Elmont, NY
                            LTjg Gale V. Woolsey 24 VRC-50 Edwards, IL
                            ABH3 Richard C. Gaynor 21 VRC-50 Oak View, CA
                            AN James M. VanBussum 22 VRC-50 Owensboro, KY
The Cryptologists
                            Rank Name Age PERMDUSTA Home of Record
                            CTOC Donald E. Dickerson 34 NCS San Miguel Chowchilla, CA
                            CTR1 Walter R. Woods 25 NCS San Miguel Long Beach, CA
                            CTM2 Gregory K. Zeller 23 NCS San Miguel Pasadena, CA
                            CTO3 James M. Coon 20 NCS San Miguel Van Wert, OH
                            CTOSN Stephen H. Elliott 21 NCS San Miguel Rock Island, IL

CTISN John R. Deremigio 25 NSGA Misawa Logansport, IN

Above: LTjg Gale V. Woolsey Jr. (L) and LT Vetal C. LaMountain (R)

Station HYPO has been asked to help with the ongoing effort to add the names of these ten service members to the Vietnam War Memorial.  In support of this effort, we will be drafting a letter for signature by our community’s retired senior leaders.  If you have information or documentation that would support this effort, please contact us using the form on the right side of the page.

v/r

The Team at Station HYPO