The 4th Air Commando Squadron, based at Nha Trang, SVN, maintained a detachment at Ubon RTAFB, Thailand, in order to allow operations along the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos. On 3 June 1966 one of the Ubon gunships, AC-47 tail number 43-48925, departed on a night armed reconnaissance mission along the Trail. It was crewed by Capt Theodore E. Kryszak, pilot; 1st Lt Russell D. Martin, co-pilot; Lt Col Harding E. Smith, navigator; TSgt Harold E. Mullins, flight engineer; TSgt Luther L. Rose, aerial gunner; and SSgt. Ervin Warren, loadmaster/gunner. At about 9:25 PM the AC-47 was operating under FAC control along Route 912 some 20 miles southwest of the Ban Karai Pass, a major entry point from NVN into Laos. About 10 miles east of the town of Ban Pha Philang, as the gunship was firing on an target, it burst into flames. The AC-47 pilot ordered his crew to bail out from the aircraft, a radio call heard by the controlling FAC. Shortly after the bail-out call, the FAC pilot saw the AC-47 roll into a steep descent and crash. The FAC reported he saw no ground fire directed at the AC-47, saw no parachutes, and heard no emergency radio beepers. Although search and rescue forces located the wreckage, there was no sign of the aircrew and no possibility of a ground search. The six men were classed as Missing in Action. On 28 March 1974, CMSgt Mullins' status was changed from "Missing in Action" to "Died while Missing", a presumptive finding of death. They are: Colonel Theodore Kryszak of Buffalo, New York; Colonel Harding Smith of Los Gatos, California; Lieutenant Colonel Russell Martin of Bloomfield, Iowa; Chief Master Sergeant Harold Mullins of Denver, Colorado; Chief Master Sergeant Luther Rose of Howe, Texas, and Chief Master Sergeant Ervin Warren of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.