Foil: 6 Panel: Distinguished Flying Cross Society Column: 1 Line: 62

Wall of Honor Level:
Air and Space Friend

Honored by:

Flying A4E aircraft, Bureau Number 151993, Major Raymond F. Latall, USMC, provided close air support for 1st Mar Div Marines who were in close combat with North Vietnamese regulars in Hue City, on February 22, 1968. Target weather was well below the minimums for an “emergency mission”, but Major Latall requested the mission be assigned a “mandatory” precedence, which was non-existent. At 400’, just below the overcast, heavy AO to weapons fire shot down in the central aircraft and shot out Latall’s navigation equipment and sight. Ordnance was delivered within 50 meters of Marines. North Vietnamese suffered 73 killed and this was the end of the organized NVA resistance in Hue City.