|
|
 |
 |
|
| Name: | Wade Lawrence Groth |
| Rank/Branch: | E4/US Army |
| Unit: | 50th Medical Detachment, 43rd Medical Group, 44th Medical Brigade |
| Date of Birth (DOB): | 14 May 1947 |
| Home City of Record: | Greenville, MI (joined Army in Cleveland OH) |
| Loss Date: | 12 February 1968 |
| Country of Loss: | South Vietnam |
| Loss Coordinates: | 121721N 1074713E (ZU030600) |
| Status (in 1973): | Missing In Action |
| Category: | 4 |
| Acft/Vehicle/Ground: | UH1H |
| Refno: | 1046 |
| Other Personnel in Incident: | Harry W. Brown, Alan W. Gunn, Jerry L. Roe (all missing) |
| 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 February 12, 1968, SP5 Harry Brown, medic; 1Lt. Jerry Roe, aircraft commander; WO Alan Gunn, pilot; and SP4 Wade Groth, crewchief, were flying a UH1H (tail #66-17027) dispatched on a night medical evacuation mission (dustoff). Dustoff 90 departed Ban Me Thuot, South Vietnam for Gia Nghai Special Forces camp.
As U.S. Air Force Tactical Control Radar operators at Ban Me Thuot tracked the flight, the blip that was the UH1H dustoff chopper disappeared from the screen at 2019 hours. The helicopter apparently went down 20 minutes outbound from its base in a mountainous region of Quang Duc Province. An Army Infantry unit searched the apparent crash site near the Cambodian border for 36 hours, but found neither the helicopter nor its crew. Snipers were not known to be in the area, and it is not believed the helicopter was shot down, according to an Army report, indicating possible mechanical trouble. In April 1969, CIA was asked to analyze the positive identifications made by a rallier of a number of photographs of missing Americans. The rallier selected the photos of both Harry Brown and Jerry Roe as two men he believed to have been prisoners of war. CIA could not determine why the source selected them. In 1979, Sean O'Toolis, an Irish-American, was touring Bong Song Camp, 40 miles south of Hanoi, on an IRA gun-buying mission, when he alleges he met and spoke with American prisoners, Brendon Foley and Wade Groth, a prison workmate of Foley's. He also claims to have talked to men named MacDonald, Jenning and an O'Hare or O'Hara. He brought a message to Foley's brother and fingerprints of Foley and O'Hara. He identified old photos of Groth, and gave believable descriptions of Foley and Groth. Neither family knows whether or not to believe O'Toolis, as much of his account of his travels seems incorrect. Whether the four men aboard the dustoff lost on February 12, 1968 survived to be captured is unknown. The coincidence of two separate sources identifying three members of the crew seems to strong to ignore. The U.S. Government does not believe there is any substance to these reports. Based on thousands of still-classified sighting reports, many experts believe hundreds of Americans did survive, and are still alive, waiting to be brought home. If even one is alive, he must be brought home. |
|
All Biographical and loss information on POWs provided by OpJC have been supplied by Chuck and Mary Schantag of POWNET. Please check with POWNET regularly for updates. |
|
 |
| WADE LAWRENCE GROTH
SSGT - E6 - Army - Selective Service USARV 31 year old Single, Caucasian, Male Date of Birth - May 14, 1947 From - GREENVILLE, MICHIGAN His tour of duty began on Feb 12, 1968 Casualty was on Sep 08, 1978 in QUANG DUC, SOUTH VIETNAM Non-Hostile, died missing HELICOPTER - CREW AIR LOSS, CRASH ON LAND Body was not recovered Religion - PROTESTANT Panel 39E - - Line 5 |
Source: The VietNam Veterans' Memorial Wall Page. |
Next POW/MIA biography |
|
 |
 |
 |
|
|
| Home | Back | E-mail me | Library | My TOC |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
||||
| Sign My POW/MIA Guestbook
Read My POW/MIA Guestbook |
||||
Click here to adopt your own POW/MIA from Operation Just Cause (OpJC or OJC). Click here to go to the OpJC Comm Center for more information. All Biographical and loss information on POWs provided by OpJC have been supplied by Chuck and Mary Schantag of POWNET. Please check with POWNET regularly for updates. |
Anyone without Internet access may adopt a POW/MIA
by sending a SASE along with their state and branch preference to:
Operation Just Cause
P.O. Box 264
Stockholm, NJ 07460
I will participate in POW/MIA Internet Blackout Day on February 1, 2000.......What about you?
Please click on the banner above to learn more about POW/MIA Internet Blackout Day.
| Home | Back | Top | Library | My TOC |
Other graphics through the courtesy of OJC and POW/MIA Freedom Fighters.
Other graphics copyright and courtesy of Ron's Free Patriotic Web Graphics
and Doc's Military and Patriotic Graphics.
MIA/POW Flag Email Stamp Icon graphic courtesy of The American War Library.
Animated guestbook courtesy of Mike Shaikun's Animated Gif Collection.
Web page space courtesy of 50megs.com.
Guestbook courtesy of TheGuestBook.com