Carrying John Vann's Body Off a Plane

After completing his tour in Duc Ton, Amb. Quinn was transferred to Saigon to a position at MACV headquarters at Tan Son Nhut airbase in 1972. After hearing that John Vann, the man who had affected this career, had been tragically killed in a nighttime helicopter incident, Amb. Quinn describes his feelings of personal devastation at this loss. This drew him to the plane carrying Vann’s body when it arrived at the airbase. Feeling a compulsion to honor his mentor, he climbed into the plane and joined with the U.S. military mortuary detail in carrying Vann’s coffin off the plane.