Luke Air Force Base in Glendale in Maricopa County, Arizona — The American Mountains (Southwest)

KNIFE-13 Memorial

United States Air Force

Photographed by Mike Wintermantel, January 19, 2026

1. KNIFE-13 Memorial

Side A

Inscription. Side A
TSGT Jackie D. Glenn
56th SPS

SSGT Gerald A. Coyle
56th SPS

SSGT Faleagafulu Ilaoa
56th SPS, K-9

SGT Jimmy P. Black
56th SPS

SGT Bobby G. Collums
56th SPS

SGT Thomas D. Dwyer
56th SPS

SGT Bob W. Ford
56th SPS

SGT Gerald W. Fritz
56th SPS, K-9

SGT Darrell L. Hamlin
56th SPS

SGT Gregory L. Hankamer
56th SPS

SGT David A. Higgs
56th SPS

SGT Michael D. Lane
56th SPS

SGT Dennis W. London
56th SPS, K-9

SGT Robert P. Mathias
56th SPS

SGT William P. McKelvey
56th SPS

SGT Tommy R. Nealis
56th SPS

SGT Robert W. Ross
56th SPS

AMN Edgar C. Moran II
56th SPS

CAPT (P) James G. Kays
21st SPC OPS SQ

1LT (CP) Laurence E. Froehlich
21st SPC OPS SQ

TSGT (FE) George E. McMullen III
21st SPC OPS SQ

SGT (FE) Robert P. Weldon
21st SPC OPS SQ

SGT (CC) Paul J. Raber
21st SPC OPS SQ

UNITED STATES AIR FORCE
Dedicated to the memory of the eighteen security policemen from the 56th Security Police Squadron and five aircrewmen from the 21st Special Operations Squadron. They were assigned to the 56th Special Operations Wing at Nakhon Phanom Royal Thai Air

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Force Base, Thailand (NKP). Our brothers were volunteers, including three K-9 handlers without dogs, who gave their lives in the valiant hope of saving the lives of the captured crew of the SS Mayaguez. All perished on May 13, 1975, in the crash of the CH-53C Sea Stallion helicopter (#68-10933), call sign KNIFE-13, while en route from Nakhon Phanom RTAFB to the staging area for the Mayaguez rescue operation at U-Tapao Royal Thai Navy Base. All were posthumously awarded the Bronze Star medal for meritorious service.

WE SHALL ALWAYS REMEMBER OUR KNIFE-13 BROTHERS!

THE MAYAGUEZ INCIDENT
The United States merchant ship SS Mayaguez and its crew were captured on May 12, 1975, by Khmer Rouge insurgents in international waters off of the coast of Cambodia. President Gerald R. Ford ordered the U.S. military to recover the ship and save the crew. 75 security policemen from the 56th security police squadron at NKP Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand, volunteered for the mission on May 13, 1975, based upon their prior training for embassy evacuations during Operation Eagle Pull. Four helicopters from the 21st SOS lifted off from NKP to transport

KNIFE-13 Memorial Marker image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Mike Wintermantel, January 19, 2026

2. KNIFE-13 Memorial Marker

Side B

the security policemen to the staging area at U-Tapao. Shortly after lift-off, KNIFE-13 fell out of the flying formation, crashing in dense jungle due to catastrophic mechanical failure. All 23 airmen aboard KNIFE-13 died due to impact and subsequent fires with exploding ordnance.
~ The SS Mayaguez and her crew were rescued on May 15, 1975.

Side B
Standing on the metal tarmac at U-Tapao, peering at stars on that warm may night, the blinking lights appeared on the horizon…heartbroken, the fourth nowhere in sight.
Landing in breathless slow motion, not knowing which one went down we were told that our brothers were lost…four jolly greens, now only three.
Standing there, my heart sinking with the pounding arrival of each whirring rotor, reading the numbers on their sides as they powered down each pulsing jet motor, I began to realize that my Delta Squad brothers would not disembark. My brothers no longer there, I began a soul quenching reality, a missing spark, my youthful spirit quickly lost.
Heroes who volunteered and broke bread with me, now the ghosts of KNIFE-43. Through god’s intervention I had been taken from them just

Photographed by Mike Wintermantel, January 19, 2026

3. KNIFE-13 Memorial

Side A

hours before, handshaking and hugging goodbyes, not realizing there would never be more. I shifted between anger, despair, and the realization would never again see my brothers alive…a twenty-year old Sergeant, instantly growing in maturity to a tempered old thirty-five.
They are always in my thoughts, now and in the decades since that warm and fatefully clear night, where three blinking lights appeared…heartbroken, the fourth nowhere in sight.

~ Sgt. J.C. Hagler, 56th SPS, NKP, Thailand, 1974-1975, sole survivor of Delta Squad, KNIFE-13, May 134, 1975.

Topics. This historical marker and memorial is listed in these topic lists: Disasters • War, Vietnam. A significant historical year for this entry is 1975.

Location. 33° 32.405′ N, 112° 21.75′ W. Marker is in Glendale, Arizona, in Maricopa County. It is in Luke Air Force Base. It is on West Eagle Street east of North 140th Drive. Located at the Chapel on the Mall at Luke AFB. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Luke Air Force Base AZ 85309, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker and memorial is in Arizona’s Sonoran Desert,

Photographed by Mike Wintermantel, January 19, 2026

4. KNIFE-13 Memorial

Side B

in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area,

and in the Tohono O’odham Nation.

It is also in the American Southwest.

Globally, it is in North America,

the Western Hemisphere,

the Western World,

and the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was once New Spain,

the Gadsden Purchase,

and Mexico’s Alta California.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: Lockheed F-104G Starfighter (within shouting distance of this marker); Lockheed T-33A Shooting Star (within shouting distance of this marker); Dedicated to USAF Pilots and Support Personnel (within shouting distance of this marker); Medal of Honor Memorial (about 300 feet away, measured in a direct line); McDonnell Douglas F-15B Eagle (about 400 feet away); McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II (about 400 feet away); North American F-100C Super Sabre (about 500 feet away); Republic F-84F Thunderstreak (about 500 feet away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Glendale.

Also see . . . 1975 - The Mayaguez Incident. Air Force Historical Support Division (Submitted on January 22, 2026, by Mike Wintermantel of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.)

Credits. This page was last revised on January 22, 2026. It was originally submitted on January 22, 2026, by Mike Wintermantel of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. This page has been viewed 78 times since then. Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4. submitted on January 22, 2026, by Mike Wintermantel of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.