Gilroy resident Joe Kline pays respects at ceremony for friends
he lost decades ago
n By Kristen Munson Staff Writer

Gilroy – After 35 years of uncertainty, after 35 years of being lost in the jungles of Laos – four crew members of the U.S. Army’s B Company, 101st Aviation Battalion were brought home.

The Kingsmen – Major Jack Barker, Captain John Dugan, Sergeant William Dillender and Private First Class John Chubb were killed when their Huey helicopter was shot down March 20, 1971 during Lam Son 719 – the largest helicopter operation of the Vietnam War.

Their remains were discovered in late December 2005 when their crash site was finally located after several attempts by the Defense Department. They were buried at Arlington National Cemetery last month surrounded by family and 25 former Kingsmen comrades. Among them was Gilroy resident Joe Kline, a former Huey helicopter crew chief, who got to pay his respects to friends lost decades ago, a world away.

“It was emotional in a good way,” he said. “It had been 35 year since these guys had been shot down. Everybody had come to terms with their loss – it was just the uncertainty. To be honest, I think even we had the 1 percent (chance that they survived) in the back of our minds.”

Three of the men were close friends of his. Their helicopter was shot down three weeks after he came home March 3, 1971.

The men were buried together in a special ceremony April 10 at Arlington National Cemetery where four Blackhawk helicopters made a flyover pass overhead. The current Kingsmen, who are abroad in Iraq, keep in close contact with the Vietnam veterans and held a special ceremony March 20.

The story of the four fallen Kingsmen has gained visibility over the past few years after the search for the crew was documented in the book “Where They Lay,” by Earl Swift.

For years, many of the surviving company members wanted to contact the family members of these four men but didn’t – “they were too afraid they would open old wounds,” Kline said.

But after Kline formed the Kingsmen reunion association in the late ’80s, and with the help of the Internet – family members were able to track them down.

Many of the Kingsmen discovered that most still use a part of their call sign with numbers from their unit in their e-mail addresses.

After the remains were found, the burial ceremony was coordinated and unit members made plans to meet in Washington D.C.

“Our main goal was to show our support for the families,” Kline said. “And to show them that they are not the only ones who were missing these guys all these years.”

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