🇺🇲Vietnam War Stories: Honoring the Heroes We Lost: Gerald Leroy McKinsey Jr of California
Today we honor Warrant Officer Gerald Leroy McKinsey Jr, of Modesto California, who served as a helicopter pilot with the 1st Aviation Brigade, 212th Aviation Battalion, 282nd Aviation Company.
According to the Honor States Memorial Archive: “On January 21, 1968, Captain Tommy C Stiner, pilot; Warrant Officer Gerald L McKinsey Jr., co-pilot; SSgt. Billy D Hill, doorgunner; and SP5 David H Harrington, crewchief; were aboard the lead UH-1D helicopter #66-01027, and PVT Jerry W. Elliott was the doorgunner on the following UH1D on a troop insertion mission. The two choppers were inserting ARVN troops at an old French fort approximately 1200 meters east of Khe Sanh, Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam. Also in the lead aircraft was LTC Joseph P. Seymore, MACV Adv Team 4, senior advisor to the ARVN unit being inserted.
“As WO McKinsey’s aircraft touched down on the landing zone, NVA troops stood up all around the aircraft and began firing at the aircraft at almost point blank range. As soon as all the ARVN troops were off loaded, the aircraft lifted off. At approximately 8-10 feet off the ground, the aircraft was hit by direct hit mortar fire. Tommy Steiner and David Harrington were the only survivors.”
Warrant Officer Gerald Leroy McKinsey Jr, would have been 21 years old in just 7 days. A recipient of the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal with 12 OLC and the Purple Heart Medal, Gerald is honored on the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial in Washington DC on Panel 35E, Line 08. He lies in rest at Burwood Cemetery in Escalon California.
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Original description and photo sourced by The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund Database