Robert L. Pruhs

Name	Robert L. Pruhs
Rank/Grade	WO - W1 - Army - Reserve
Age	21
Marital Status	Single
Race	Caucasian
Gender	Male
Date of Birth	Apr 15, 1945
From	Norfolk, Virginia
Length of Service	{Service}
Tour Began	Oct 07, 1966
Casualty Date	Oct 14, 1966
Location	SOUTH VIETNAM
Hostile/Non-Hostile	HOSTILE
Classification	HELICOPTER - PILOT AIR LOSS, CRASH ON LAND
Body Recovered	Yes
Religion	Methodist
Vietnam Memorial	Panel 11E - - Line 74

Posted by:	Ron Seabolt
Date:	Saturday, June 8, 2002 11:13 AM UTC
Relationship:	In the same unit
From:	Terrell, TX
Comments:	Bob Pruhs was taking his in-country check ride with 1LT Dennis Hand when they were ordered to report to the race track in Saigon for a hastly formed combat assault. The mission was not supposed to be especially hot. Lt. Hand was ordered to fly lead on the mission. It was normal procedure for the lead aircraft to have two qualified aircraft commanders on board. Not only was there only one for this mission, the other guy had never flew a combat mission in his life. The powers that be knew that the Rattlers had NO BETTER PILOT alive than Dennis Hand, so he was it. To read the rest of this story, go to our "Stories" page, and scroll down to "The Last Check Ride" by Dennis Hand.

Posted by:	Charles D. Barton
Date:	Thursday, April 20, 2006 5:29 PM UTC
Relationship:	In same unit
From:	Georgetown, TX
Comments:	On 13 Oct 1966, as the senior Captain in the first platoon, I was scheduling pilots for the next day's missions. I had been in country just a month, but had 140 hours flight time. I placed my name on the aircraft that Dennis Hand was to be the AC as the pilot. A short time later the platoon leader asked why my name was on this flight. I responded that I felt I needed to be on the mission, since it needed someone with some in country experience. He directed me to remove my name due to my excessive flight time to date, and substitute another pilot.(Policy required pilots to be down for 3 days after reaching 140 hours flight time). I put WO Pruhs name on the flight. The next day around 10AM I received a call to "secure WO Pruh's room and effects." I knew right away what had happened. That night @ our bar, I was a nervous wreck-knowing I was supposed to have been in that aircraft. Maj "Ace" Morris, the CO provided the necessary compassion to me that was sorely needed at that time.

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