Information for this story was provided to the offices of State Representative Pam Snyder, the Greene County Commissioners and the Greene County Veterans Affairs Office.
Cpl. Owen Hallam, who graduated from Waynesburg Central High School in 1973, was one of 20 U.S. Marines from the 3rd Battalion/9th Marines who died in a helicopter crash on October 21, 1977, as did four other soldiers working as crew members aboard the helicopter.
Owen moved to Graysville when he was eleven years old, growing up with his parents, Bernard and Margaret Hallam, and his seven siblings: Peggy (Maley), Bradley, Keith, Kyle, Scott, Ben and Stuart.
Kyle, Owen’s older brother, describes his brother as “rough and tough, kind and compassionate, a risk taker and adventurous. He loved racing his cars and spending time with his buddies.”
Owen played basketball and ran track in high school, and also enjoyed working on cars and taking them down to Fairmont, W.Va., where he would race them with his friends. His closest friends included Rich Hopkins, Scott Cole and John Curry.
Owen was one of more than three dozen United States soldiers who received a tremendous honor during a special ceremony on October 20, 2019 at the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Triangle, Va.
During the ceremony, Owen and the other soldiers and crew members who perished, along with the 13 soldiers who survived, were honored with the unveiling of a commemorative plaque.
Many of the survivors and rescue team members joined loved ones of the soldiers who died on that fateful day in attending the ceremony.
The bronze plaque features the engraved names of the 37 soldiers and crew members, as well as the engraved words “No Sacrifice Forgotten” and the details of the crash: “Exercise Fortress Lightning, Mindoro Island – Hill 434, October 21, 1977, CH-53D Helicopter Crash.”
The plaque also expresses gratitude for “the extraordinary rescue and recovery teams (that) tirelessly battled a remote mountainside of unforgiving terrain to bring our cherished home.”
The fatal crash occurred on the Philippine island of Mindoro; the 3/9 Battalion had just finished a training exercise called Operation Fortress Lightning and were being transported by helicopters back to the area of Subic Bay, where those onboard were scheduled to later board ships and head back to Okinawa.
After takeoff, the CH-53 helicopter, which had a water bull trailer hooked to a lift underneath, developed major issues with the tail rotor control system that caused the copter to go into a spin shortly after, according to information provided by surviving soldiers.
The copter then struck and rolled down the side of a mountain, eventually causing the copter to burst into flames.
It has also been reported that at the time of the crash, the soldiers onboard had less than two months until they were able to return to the United States.
Over the years, a woman named Gloria (Anderson) Goss of Mechanicsburg – who was married to Sgt. Charles W. Anderson, one of the soldiers killed in the crash – persisted in her commitment and dedication to making sure that those 24 soldiers and crew members would somehow be honored and remembered.
Goss’s dedication ultimately resulted in the honorary plaque being created and presented during the October 20, 2019 ceremony.
Also during the ceremony, remarks were made by one of Owen’s brothers, the Rev. Stuart Hallam of the DM Intermountain Conference Bible Missionary Church.
“As all of us here today, I would rather not have October 21, 1977 as a reference point in my life,” he said. “But I must ever face the reality that it is. Life was never to be the same from that day on … As I have acknowledged, time does not always heal. Yet in spite of that, I do know in time we can choose to either become better or bitter in relation to tragedy and pain in our lives.”
In addition to Rev. Hallam’s remarks, there were many special guests offering remarks and participating in the ceremony, including several of Owen’s fellow soldiers who served with him at the time of the crash and/or survived the crash.
Many of them spoke kindly and fondly of Owen as they remembered their comrade.
“I saw pure goodness and kindness in Owen, he was a hero to us,” said Brian Mrozek, who served in the same platoon with Owen. “(Most of us in the platoon) were 17-18 years old, and Owen was 22, but to us he was 45 … he carried authority like no one else.”
Others referred to him as a mature Corporal and a great leader.
Many of Owen’s family members were also in attendance for the ceremony. Kyle Hallam said his family was genuinely touched by the honorary plaque and ceremony.
The plaque has been permanently placed inside the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Triangle, Va., and will remain there forever as a fitting tribute to Owen Hallam and to the other brave soldiers and crew members who either lost their lives or survived that terrible crash on Mindoro Island 42 years ago.