lest we forget

TURNER, CLARENCE SIDNEY III

Rank / Branch:

  • SPECIALIST FIFTH CLASS, U.S. ARMY

Date Of Birth:

  • 1949-04-13

Country Of Loss:

  • SOUTH VIETNAM

Status:

  • HOSTLE, HELICOPTER CRAA

Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground:​

  • UH-1H HELICOPTER

Other:

  • NOT MARRIED

Unit:

  • 101ST AIRBORNE DIVISION

Date Of Loss:

  • 1970-01-14

Loss Coordinates:

  • THUA THIEN

Catagory:

  • BODY RETURNED

Awards & Decorations:

  • SEE BIO

VETERAN HAGI0GRAPHY

  • TURNER, CLARENCE SIDNEY III, SPECIALIST FIFTH CLASS, U. S. ARMY, SWEETWATER, NOLEN, TEXAS

AWARDS AND DECORATIONS

  • PARACHUTE WINGS, ARMY AIR CREWMAN WINGS, BRONZE STAR, PURPLE HEART, AIR MEDAL, NATIONAL DEFENSE SERVICE MEDAL, VIETNAM SERVICE MEDAL, VIETNAM CROSS OF GALLANRY WITH PALM, VIETNAM CAMPAIGN MEDAL

BIOGRAPHY

  • Clarence Sidney Turner, III was born in Abilene, Texas, the oldest son of Violet Ruth Yeager and Clarence Sidney Turner II. He had a younger brother, Donald Lynn Turner, two years younger. He went by the name of Sid. He spent his early years in Cisco, Texas and the family moved to Sweetwater, Texas, when Sid was a freshman. He was a 1968 graduate of Sweetwater High School. After high school, he worked as an installer for Western Electric.
  • He enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1968 in order to complete his military service. He completed basic training at Fort Polk, Louisiana and then completed Helicopter Maintenance and Crew Chief Training at Fort Rucker, Alabama and Fort Stewart, Georgia. He completed parachute training at Fort Benning, Georgia.
  • He began his tour in Vietnam on August 30, 1969. He was assigned to A Company, 101st Aviation Battalion, 101st Airborne Division as a crew chief/maintenance mechanic. He was killed functioning as a crew chief on UH-1H # 67-17349 when it was shot down by ground fire and crashed and burned on January 14, 1970. Three fellow crew members including the gunner and pilot were killed as well. The lone survivor was the co-pilot.
  • Specialist Five Turner was buried in the family plot of the Oakwood Cemetery in Cisco, Texas with full military honors. He was survived by this father and mother and his younger brother. His father is now deceased and is buried next to Sid.
  • SWEETWATER HIGH SCHOOL, CLASS OF 1968
  • 1969, SHORTLY AFTER JOINING HIS UNIT IN VIETNAM
  • OAKWOOD CEMETERY, CISCO, TEXAS