Thirteen servicemembers who were killed when their helicopter was shot down during the final battle of the Vietnam War will be buried together Wednesday in Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors.<\/p>\n
Their CH-53 Sea Stallion helicopter \u2014 known as Knife 31 \u2014 had been among those tasked with rescuing the American merchant vessel SS Mayaguez and its crew, who were detained by Cambodian Khmer Rouge forces several days earlier in what became known as the \u201cMayaguez Incident.\u201d<\/p>\n
The chopper, with 26 servicemembers aboard, crashed in waist-deep surf just east of Koh Tang \u2014 a Khmer Rouge-controlled island in the Gulf of Thailand about 60 nautical miles from mainland Cambodia \u2014 as it approached to offload Marines on May 15, 1975.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
A lot of folks don’t know much about the Mayaguez Incident.\u00a0 Here’s an old TV News account about the basics:<\/p>\n