Two weeks after the fall of Saigon ended the Vietnam War in 1975, two Western Pennsylvanians lost their lives in a little-remembered operation considered by many as the United States' last battle of that conflict.

“History pretty much forgot the incident. It was sort of a postscript at the end of the war,” said Air Force veteran John Appel, 62, of Greensboro, N.C. “To most of the world, the fighting was over. ... If you look at the whole context, it was a small incident. But to those involved, it was significant.”

With the 40th anniversary of the Mayaguez incident this week, some plan to commemorate those who died — including Airman Edgar C. Moran II of South Fayette and Staff Sgt. Gerald A. Coyle of Bentleyville in Washington County.

Appel and a few others who were there have not forgotten.

“This time of year is always bad,” said Charles Hayes, 64, of London, Ky. “It's not something you forget. You don't want to forget what they gave or their sacrifice.”

The mission

On May 12, 1975, two Khmer Rouge gunboats off the coast of Cambodia took over the S.S. Mayaguez, an American merchant ship delivering supplies to Thailand. The communist rebels took hostage its 40 unarmed crew members.

President Ford called the hijacking an act of piracy. Military officials devised a plan for Air Force security police to retake the ship.

“The only shooters they had available at the time were the Air Force cops,” said Appel, who was a security policeman stationed in southern Thailand. “They sort of jammed up a quick rescue mission.”

About 150 security police from bases around Thailand were to participate, including about 50 members of the 56th Security Police Squadron from Nakhon Phanom Air Base, where Moran and Coyle were stationed.

Coyle, 31, was married with a young daughter back in North Carolina.

“Jerry was a good guy,” Appel said. “There was always a smile on his face. He was a chipper guy.”

Moran graduated the previous June from Chartiers Valley High School, where he was president of the Future Teachers of America club. He was a deacon at Rennerdale Presbyterian Church.

The family's only son, Moran, 19, used his enlistment bonus to buy a car for his mother and four sisters.

“We were all young, but he was real young,” said Leon Cooper, 62, of Willis, Texas, an Air Force veteran of the Mayaguez operation. “He was a one-striper, probably the lowest-ranked guy there. But he was gung-ho.”

The afternoon of May 13, officers sought security police volunteers to assist with what they called a riot-control mission.

“Nobody believed that,” said Cooper, noting the lie did little to keep people from signing up. The volunteers soon learned the truth about the mission.

Tragedy strikes

A photographer snapped a black-and-white image of 23 people, including 18 security police, inside the CH53 helicopter before takeoff. Moran sat in back, tugging at his beret. Coyle was somewhere in the aircraft's darkened front.

Minutes after takeoff about 9:30 p.m., the chopper disappeared from radar near the Laotian border. Rescuers found the burning wreckage in a jungle about 35 miles from base. No one survived.

“That was the single-most number of security police killed at one time in the history of the Air Force,” Hayes said.

Coyle would have turned 32 that day.

“We all took it pretty hard,” Hayes said. “We tried to ‘John Wayne' it, which was probably the worst thing we could have done.”

Soon after, military officials scrapped plans to use security police and called in Marines.

The Pentagon at the time said the chopper went down because of mechanical failure. The military denied it was part of the Mayaguez rescue effort.

Thai investigators said enemy ground fire may have downed the chopper, the Bangkok Post reported at the time.

“I think it was shot down,” Hayes said. “(Thai officials had) no reason to lie about it. The Pentagon did. It was the end of the Vietnam War.”

On May 15, the 2nd Battalion, 9th Marines descended upon Koh Tang Island and fought more than 300 Khmer Rouge soldiers. A 14-hour assault ended with the recapture of the Mayaguez and its crew.

When it was done, 41 Americans had died.

Honors and tradition

The military posthumously awarded each a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star, which recognizes heroism and meritorious service in a combat zone.

The Air Force in 2003 named a barracks at Pope Air Force Base in Coyle's honor.

Those who died in the Mayaguez incident are the last to qualify for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall.

“Nothing can take away them not being here,” Cooper said, “but people knowing how they died and why they died — that's all that matters.”

Patrick “Pat” Riley, 52, of South Heights, Beaver County, on Monday visited Moran's grave in Chartiers Cemetery in Carnegie, as he has for more than a decade.

Riley pulled weeds and grass, and scrubbed clean the simple military headstone before he affixed a security squadron decal. Someone else recently placed a purple wreath and fresh American flag atop the grave.

Riley said he discovered Moran and the Air Force's role in the Mayaguez incident while researching security police history. He has visited the grave ever since.

“I was kind of hoping the tradition would carry on,” said Riley, who retired in January from the Air Force Reserve. “I'd like to see Air Force cops out here every year.”

Jason Cato is a Trib Total Media staff writer.

He can be reached at 412-320-7936 or jcato@tribweb.com.

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