VietNow National Magazine

CAUTION!
Personal Story: Proceed at your own risk

By Rich Sanders – VietNow National President

Strangers do not visit the hilltop home of Mrs. Aurora Acalotto, 85, from Irwin, Pennsylvania. Why? Because the very moment that strangers enter the kitchen of Mrs. Acalotto, she exudes an energetic love spell over them that immediately transforms strangers into seemingly long-term friends.

A large wall in the den of her house serves as a pictorial family tree. Mrs. Acalotto is quick to proudly introduce visitors to her family by using this wall. At the top of the wall and parallel to the ceiling are the high school graduation pictures of each of her five children. Aurora and her late husband, Dominic, had four sons and one daughter. Under those graduation pictures are the pictures of the spouses of her children. Forming a pyramid under each of these pictures are photographs of her grandchildren and great grandchildren. Many family portraits are sprinkled under the pictures of four of her children. The wall under the picture of her youngest son, Bobby, is blatantly bare except for two medallions. The lives of his siblings have continued to prosper and grow. However, on February 20, 1971, Bobby’s life was suddenly put on hold. On this date Bobby Acalotto’s helicopter was shot down in Laos. Mrs. Acalotto’s family introductions always include a proud mention of the medals under Bobby’s picture.

Bobby was born on January 30, 1951, to Italian immigrant parents who worked in the coal mines in the Pittsburgh area. As a teenager, he enjoyed tinkering with old cars. He did the things that normal teens of the '60s did. He attended the prom, hung out with his friends, and worked part-time at a diner.

After his graduation in 1969, he enlisted in the Army. This action continued a proud military tradition within his family. All three of his brothers had entered military service. Bobby completed his basic training and attended communication school in Ft. Gordon, Georgia. This was the first time in Bobby’s life that he had been away from his family for an extended period of time. He was soon to be further away from his family. In July of 1970, Bobby received his orders to go to Vietnam.

Acalotto was assigned to the 48th Helicopter Assault Company and volunteered to be a door gunner. Bobby’s helicopter company was assigned to support a major ground operation designed to cut the Ho Chi Minh Trail along the Vietnam and the Laos border. Dominic, Bobby’s brother said, “It was the first official big push into Laos. The others had been secret."

On February 20, 1971, Bobby volunteered to take the place of a sick soldier on a mission that would take him into the Savannakhet Province of Laos. Early in the mission Bobby’s helicopter received heavy ground fire. As fate would have it, the tail section of Bobby’s helicopter was shot off and the aircraft crashed to the ground joining 26 other aircraft shot down that day. After six hours of fierce fighting an elite reconnaissance team was inserted into the area. The team found the helicopter, but no bodies, no personal equipment, no evidence of any kind that the crew had been wounded, killed, or captured. Bobby and his three other crew members had just vanished.

By sheer coincidence Bobby’s brother, Dominic, was assigned to the same operation as part of a covert unit, flying with a forward air controller in support of the assault. He was unaware that Bobby would be taking part in the action, and did not participate in either the specific action in which Bobby’s helicopter was shot down or in the rescue attempt that followed.

Additional information which was recently provided by the Vietnamese indicates that in 1973, a former North Vietnamese soldier stated that he saw a wounded American soldier in a Vietnamese hospital near the crash site. The same soldier stated that he saw the bodies of three other American soldiers, all of whom were later buried near the crash site. However the recon team that investigated the site reported no such grave sites.

Over 25 years later, Bobby’s mother still proudly introduces him by way of his high school graduation picture to visitors to her home. The 85-year-old mother has no definitive answers to a quarter of a century’s worth of questions. The question is often asked, “How many live Americans could there still be after all these years?” The blank space on the wall in the den of the Acalotto household cries out the response: “If it’s one person, and that person is Bobby Acalotto, does it matter to all the other people pictured on that wall?”

“If it’s one person and that person is Bobby Acalotto, does it matter to Rich Sanders?” I served in the United States Army for over 38 weeks with Bob Acalotto. He was a great friend and a fun guy. We had some good times together. I will never forget you, Bob.

Oh, yes, if it’s is one and that person is Bob Acalotto, does it matter? You are damn right it matters.

The above article appeared in this magazine several years ago. Since that time Aurora Acalotto has died. The fate of Bobby Acalotto is still unknown. What is known is that Robert J. Acalotto’s name appears alphabetically at the top of our government’s list of Last Known Alive (LKA) servicemen from the Vietnam War. What is also known is that WO Stephen Knowles was piloting another Huey that day near the crash site. He tried to set down nearby to rescue the crew of the downed chopper. His aircraft was driven away by heavy enemy fire, but he did a visual inspection of the crash site before pulling away. His report noted two people, believed to be the crew chief and door gunner (Acalotto) running from the aircraft into the trees. The remains of the pilot and co-pilot were recovered from the site years later.

I recently wrote in this column about the waning of interest in the POW/MIA issue by veterans, veteran organizations, and the public in general. It was over 10 years after I came home from Vietnam before I confirmed, via a trip to The Wall, that Bobby Acalotto was a POW/MIA. Until that moment of reckoning it was just an easy escape route to attribute such an idea as speculation, all the while living my life in my own world. Seeing those letters that organized themselves into the name “Robert J. Acalotto” on The Wall dropped a huge load of guilt on me. Now we are going to let the POW/MIA issue fade as just a dim memory of the past? Not from this veteran!

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