Spooky
21
Dennis L. Eilers
To this name there is a face
To this face there is a story
To this story there is a sacrifice
This is the story of Dennis L. Eilers. Dennis was born on December 6th 1938.Growing up on a farm in Tipton, IA.
Dennis dreamed of one day becoming a pilot, he also loved to play sports like football and baseball.
While at college in Cedar Rapids he joined the ROTC after graduation he began his career as a pilot in Air Force.
Dennis married and had two sons. Dennis arrived in Vietnam on November 3rd 1965.
He was assigned to the 4th Air Commando Squadron at Da Nang Vietnam.
On December 24th 1965 Dennis and the rest of his crew boarded AC-47 number 45-1120
the call sign for this mission would be "SPOOKY 21" the mission was an armed reconnaissance in Laos.
Takeoff was at 07:28 in the morning, they were due to return to Da Nang by 13:30 hours,
at about 10:50 am the aircraft broadcast : MAYDAY,MAYDAY,MAYDAY,SPOOKY 21" on the UHF emergency frequency.
This was heard by two other aircraft. After two days of searching the search for SPOOKY 21 was suspended.
No sign of the plane or crew were found.
In July of 2001 a team was sent to the area where SPOOKY 21 was shot down.
They found some parts of the plane but as of now have not recovered any of the crew.
The investigation continues……….
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