I was flying cover lead when WARWAGON 10 was shot down that day. I do not remember who was flying the trails of either gun or scout. We were flying up North close to Muc Hoa but staging out of Vinh Long.

    I do remember cautioning him several times during the mission to quit flying too slow and covering the same ground over and over again. It was something he routinely did.

    His last radio transmission was, "Taking fire! Taking hits! Oh my god." You could hear the sounds of the guns over his microphone. Then there was a brilliant explosion and he crashed. I rolled in hot when he called, but my inboards did not fire, I switched to the outboards, but they did not fire either. I finally switched to 20MM and fired the cannon before breaking.

    I flew back to Vinh Long and switched intervalometers out. We stayed in contact with the enemy all day and RFPF forces finally extracted the bodies of Bruce and his gunner, Jimmy.

    A sad day for all of us.

    Buck Buchanan