WO1 Jay S. Aston was the pilot and aircraft commander of a UH-1H helicopter (tail #68-15671) from C Company, 101st Aviation Battalion, on which he and his co-pilot CW2 Clement R. Custer were assigned an extraction mission on July 18, 1971. Aston and Custer, together with another helicopter providing support, were to pick up four friendly personnel from a classified area. At the point of extraction near the Laos/South Vietnam border, ground fire was received upon lift off. The aircraft was hit, and was seen by the second helicopter to roll to the right and crash inverted into the trees. The helicopter went down in Quang Nam Province, South Vietnam due east of the Laotian city of Ban Bac. Custer was knocked unconscious from the crash. WO Aston, shot in the head, was pinned in the wreckage of the helicopter, and it was impossible to free him. SGT Richmond, the medic with the team to be extracted, determined that Aston was dead, because of a massive head and neck injury with extensive bleeding and lack of vital signs. SGT Richmond was unable to extricate Aston's body, which was pinned in the twisted wreckage of the helicopter. SGT Richmond, CW2 Custer and the remaining team members were successfully extracted. Because special equipment was needed to recover Aston, his body was left behind for later removal. Because of enemy activity, however, Aston's body was never recovered. [Taken from vhpa.org and pownetwork.org]