His C-119 Flying Boxcar cargo plane was hit twice by ground fire, first in the port engine, then in the horizontal stabilizer, while parachuting a howitzer to the besieged French garrison at Dien Bien Phu during the First Indochina War. He managed to fly , but just short of a landing strip in Laos, a wingtip clipped a tree. Moments before impact, McGovern was heard to say over his radio, "Looks like this is it, son." McGovern, his co-pilot Wallace Buford, and two French crewmen were killed. Two others were thrown clear; one later died of his injuries. The day after, the garrison at Dien Bien Phu surrendered.