Name: CW2 Willard Sparks Cannon III
Status: Killed In Action from an incident on 04/29/1970 while performing the duty of Pilot.
Age at death: 23.2
Date of Birth: 03/05/1947
Home City: Winchester, MA
Service: AV branch of the reserve component of the U.S. Army.
Unit: C/3/17 CAV
Major organization: 1st Aviation Brigade
Flight class: 69-1
Service: AV branch of the U.S. Army.
The Wall location: 11W-067
Short Summary: Crashed after hitting water flying low level over a lake. Observer E5 J. Thigpen and CE E5 L. Blaksted survived.
Aircraft: OH-58A tail number 68-16844
Service number: W3163110
Country: South Vietnam
MOS: 100B = Utility/Observation Helicopter Pilot
Primary cause: A/C Accident
Major attributing cause: aircraft connected not at sea
Compliment cause: weapons
Vehicle involved: helicopter
Position in vehicle: pilot
Started Tour: 04/22/1969
"Official" listing: helicopter air casualty - pilot
Length of service: 02
Location: Binh Tuy Province III Corps.
Reason: aircraft lost or crashed
Casualty type: Non-hostile - died of other causes
single male U.S. citizen
Race: Caucasian
Religion: Protestant - no denominational preference
The following information secondary, but may help in explaining this incident.
Category of casualty as defined by the Army: non-battle dead Category of personnel: active duty Army Military class: warrant officer
This record was last updated on 07/29/1994
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Date posted on this site: 08/17/2025
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