21st Tactical Air Support Squadron The 21st Tactical Air Support Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit of the 2nd Air Division during the Vietnam War ; and was organized on 8 May 1965 . History . Assignments and stations . The 21st Tactical Air Support Squadron ( 21st TASS ) was a U . S . Air Force forward air control squadron . It was organized on 8 May 1965 under the initial command of Lieutenant Colonel Jack Martin , and was assigned to the 2nd Air Division and attached to the 6250th Tactical Air Support Group ( Provisional ) at Pleiku Air Base , but it did not become operational until 1 August 1965 . On 8 November 1965 , the squadron was reassigned to the 505th Tactical Control Group , which was headquartered at Tan Son Nhut Airport near Saigon . The 505th provided administrative and logistical support to the 21st . In September 1966 the 21st was relocated to Nha Trang Air Base where it was attached to the 14th Air Commando Wing . On 8 December 1966 , the 21st was reassigned the 504th Tactical Air Support Group . The headquarters for the squadron remained at Nha Trang until October 1969 when it was moved to Cam Ranh Bay Air Base . Its final move was back to the 377th Air Base Wing at Tan Son Nhut on 15 March 1972 . The 21 TASS was inactivated on 23 February 1973 at Tan Son Nhut , SVN . Aircraft losses while engaged in combat were 18 O - 1E , 14 O - 1F , 9 O - 1G , 16 O - 2A , and 1 OV - 10A . Air crew casualties over the course of the war totaled at least 29 KIA , one captured and held POW , and one injured in a flying accident . Vietnam War . The mission of the 21st TASS was to provide visual reconnaissance and airborne forward air control support of tactical offensive operations . The area of operations assigned to the 21st was II Corps , a large and geographically mixed section of Vietnam , and at various times detachments of the squadron operated from a number of different sites within II Corps . The squadron suffered its first combat loss , O - 1F # 56 - 6218 , even before it became operational , when Captain Francis Geiger and his VNAF observer , Lieutenant Hiep , were shot down by small arms fire and killed in action on 22 July 1965 . Within the next 30 days , two additional O - 1 ’ s were lost due to enemy action . Over the course of the war , the 21st played a key role in a number of major engagements , and countless small actions . It was an important factor in the effort to save the Special Forces Camp at Duc Co , from 3 to 17 August 1965 only a few months after its activation . Other major engagements include the lifting of the siege of Plei Me in October 1965 ( the largest engagement with the Viet Cong up to that point in the war ) . These actions occurred throughout the II Corps area . Time and again ground commanders praised the FACs for directing strikes so accurately that the ground forces were saved from being overrun . Hilliard A . Wilbanks ' Medal of Honor . Capt . Hilliard A . Wilbanks , a 21st TASS pilot , was awarded the Medal of Honor for actions near Dalat , RVN on 24 February 1967 . By that time he had already flown 487 combat missions , and had earned the Distinguished Flying Cross and 17 Air Medals . He was within two months of returning home to his wife and four small children when he was killed in action . Capt . Wilbanks ' citation reads as follows : For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty . As a forward air controller Captain Wilbanks was pilot of an unarmed , light aircraft flying visual reconnaissance ahead of a South Vietnam Army Ranger Battalion . His intensive search revealed a well - concealed and numerically superior hostile force poised to ambush the advancing rangers . The Viet Cong , realizing that Capt . Wilbanks ' discovery had compromised their position and ability to launch a surprise attack , immediately fired on the small aircraft with all available firepower . The enemy then began advancing against the exposed forward elements of the ranger force , which were pinned down by devastating fire . Captain Wilbanks recognized that close support aircraft could not arrive in time to enable the rangers to withstand the advancing enemy onslaught . With full knowledge of the limitations of his unarmed , unarmored , light reconnaissance aircraft , and the great danger imposed by the enemy ' s vast firepower , he unhesitatingly assumed a covering , close support role . Flying through a hail of withering fire at treetop level , Captain . Wilbanks passed directly over the advancing enemy and inflicted many casualties by firing his rifle out of the side window of his aircraft . Despite increasingly intense antiaircraft fire , Captain Wilbanks continued to completely disregard his own safety and made repeated low passes over the enemy to divert their fire away from the rangers . His daring tactics successfully interrupted the enemy advance , allowing the rangers to withdraw to safety from their perilous position . During his final courageous attack to protect the withdrawing forces , Captain Wilbanks was mortally wounded and his bullet - riddled aircraft crashed between the opposing forces . Capt . Wilbanks ' magnificent action saved numerous friendly personnel from certain injury or death . His unparalleled concern for his fellow man and his extraordinary heroism were in the highest traditions of the military service , and have reflected great credit upon himself and the U . S . Air Force . Unit awards . Unit awards earned while in Vietnam were : Five Presidential Unit Citations for the periods 1 August 65 - 1 February 66 ; 2 February 66 - 28 February 67 ; 1 August 68 to 31 August 69 ; 1 January 70 - 31 December 70 ; and 30 January 71 - 31 December 71 ; the Air Force Outstanding Unit Award with ‘ V ’ device for valor , 15 March 72 - 21 February 73 ; and the Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross with Palm , 1 April 66 - 28 January 73 .