John Muir Class of 1960 Reunion
A Special Tribute to Our Military Heroes

Those who are listed below have made the ultimate sacrifice and shown supreme valor and gallantry in the service of our country. It is to these men and women that we dedicate these pages. If you know of any who have given their life in the service of our country, and their story, please contact us so we may honor them here.  

Veterans Infomation Form
 

In Honor

John Charles Sweet

The Mission Circumstances

In late October 1967, Scorpion started refresher training and weapons system acceptance tests, and was given a new Commanding Officer, Francis Slattery. Following “type training” out of Norfolk, Virginia, it got underway on 15 February 1968 for a Mediterranean Sea deployment. It operated with the 6th Fleet into May and then headed west for home. Scorpion suffered several mechanical malfunctions including a chronic problem with Freon leakage from refrigeration systems. An electrical fire occurred in an escape trunk when a water leak shorted out a shore power connection.

Upon departing the Mediterranean on 16 May, two men departed Scorpion at Rota, Spain. One man left due to emergency leave and the other enlisted man departed for health reasons. Scorpion was then detailed to observe Soviet naval activities in the Atlantic in the vicinity of the Azores. With this completed, Scorpion prepared to head back to Naval Base Norfolk.

For an unusually long period of time, beginning shortly before midnight on 20 May and ending after midnight 21 May, Scorpion was attempting to send radio traffic to Naval Station Rota in Spain but was only able to reach a Navy communications station in Nea Makri, Greece, which forwarded Scorpion's messages to SUBLANT. Six days later, it was reported overdue at Norfolk. Navy personnel suspected possible failure and launched a search.

The Search

A public search was initiated, but without immediate success and on 5 June, Scorpion and her crew were declared "presumed lost." Her name was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 30 June. Some recent reports^[4] now indicate that a large and secret search was launched three days before Scorpion was expected back from patrol; this combined with other declassified information led many to speculate the US Navy knew of the Scorpion's destruction before the public search was launched.

The public search continued with a team of mathematical consultants led by Dr. John Craven, the Chief Scientist of the U.S. Navy's Special Projects Division. At the end of October, the Navy's oceanographic research ship, Mizar, located sections of the hull of Scorpion in more than 3,000 m (9,800 ft) of water about 740 km (400 nmi; 460 mi) southwest of the Azores. This was after the Navy had released sound tapes from its underwater "SOSUS" listening system which contained the sounds of the destruction of Scorpion. Subsequently, the Court of Inquiry was reconvened, and other vessels, including the bathyscaphe Trieste II, were dispatched to the scene, collecting a myriad of pictures and other data.

Although Dr. Craven received much credit for locating the wreckage of Scorpion, Gordon Hamilton — an acoustics expert who pioneered the use of hydroacoustics to pinpoint Polaris missile splashdown locations — was instrumental not only in acquiring the acoustic signals that were used in locating the vessel, but also in analyzing those signals to provide a concise "search box" wherein the wreck of Scorpion was finally located. Hamilton had established a listening station in the Canary Islands, which obtained a clear signal of what some scientists believe was the noise of the vessel's pressure hull imploding as she passed below crush depth. A little-known Naval Research Laboratory scientist named Chester "Buck" Buchanan, using a towed camera sled of his own design aboard Mizar, finally located Scorpion after nearly six months of searching. The towed camera sled, which was fabricated by J.L. "Jac" Hamm of Naval Research Laboratory's Engineering Services Division, is currently housed in the Navy Museum, Washington Navy Yard, Washington, DC. (Buchanan had located the wrecked hull of Thresher in 1964 using this same technique.)

The Clinton Administration declassified most of this report in 1993, and it was then that the public first learned that the panel considered that a possible cause of the malfunction was one of Scorpion's own torpedoes.

In Honor

Stephen Craig Moreland

The Mission Circumstances

The Kham Duc Special Forces camp (A-105) was located on the western fringes of Quang Tin Province, South Vietnam. The only village in the area, located across the airstrip, was occupied by post dependents, camp followers and merchants. In the spring of 1968, it was the only remaining border camp in Military Region I. Backup responsibility for the camp fell on the 23rd Infantry Division (Americal), based at Chu Lai on the far side of the province. Kham Duc had several outlying camps; of particular interest is Ngok Tavak, about 5 miles distant.

Beginning at about 0300 on 10 May 1968, Ngok Tavak came under heavy attack by a North Vietnamese Army infantry battalion, an element of the 2nd NVA Regiment which was moving into South Vietnam from Laos. In a pitched battle, the small force of defenders staved off immediate defeat, but by noon on 10 May it was clear that Ngok Tavak would have to be abandoned. After destroying equipment and supplies which could not be carried out, the survivors began the move to the main camp at Kham Duc. They were picked up by helicopter midway to Kham Duc, arriving at the camp at about 2100 (9 PM) on 10 May. The defending force at Ngok Tavak had incurred numerous losses in both known dead and missing soldiers.

Kham Duc itself had been under attack by other elements of the NVA 2nd Regiment since the early morning hours of 10 May and the situation there was deteriorating rapidly. The camp was under constant attack through 11 May. Although additional Allied troops were airlifted in, the 1st NVA Regiment also entered the battle and by the morning of 12 May there was serious doubt if the camp could be held in against an enemy force of some ten to fifteen thousand men. By noon, the US 23rd Infantry Division commander had decided to withdraw entirely from Kham Duc. The evacuation was disorderly and, at times, verged on complete panic.

One of the aircraft used in the evacuation was a C-130 HERCULES transport (tail number 60-0297) assigned to the 773rd Tactical Airlift Squadron but being flown by a crew on temporary duty from the 774th TAS based at Mactan Airbase, Philippines. The C-130 aircrew consisted of

            ●     Major Bernard Bucher, pilot;  

            ●    1st Lt Stephen Craig Moreland, co-pilot;

            ●  Major John McElroy, navigator;  

            ●  SSgt. Frank Hepler, flight engineer; and  

            ●    Airman George Long, loadmaster,   

The C-130E landed in the midst of the continuing battle and immediately began taking aboard passengers, primarily women and children civilians from the village of Kham Duc. Bucher began his take-off after loading between 150 and 200 passengers, but his aircraft was heavily hit by antiaircraft fire, exploded in flight, crashed in heavy jungle, and burned. There was no hope of survivors.

The evacuation continued and by nightfall of 12 May the vast majority of Allied troops and Vietnamese civilians had been evacuated from the camp. Kham Duc, the last border outpost in northeastern South Vietnam, had fallen to the enemy.

Two years and two months later, on 4 Sep 1970, the Americal Division recaptured Kham Duc. While the remains of a number of "missing in action" personnel were recovered, the wreckage of the C-130 could not be located and the remains of its crew had not been recovered.

     Update: December 15, 2008 -  After twenty years and listed...MIA, the remains of several U.S. Air Force personnel from the C-130 HERCULES transport (tail number 60-0297) were finally recovered. They are Maj. Bernard L. Bucher, of Eureka, Ill.; Maj. John L. McElroy, of Eminence, Ky.; 1st Lt. Stephen C. Moreland, of Los Angeles, Calif.; and Staff Sgt. Frank M. Hepler, of Glenside, Pa. These men were buried as a group on Dec. 18, 2008 in Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C.