TSGT Hugh Hugh Leslie ‘Buzz’ Sherburn was killed in action on 5 February 1969, when the EC-47 aircraft, callsign CAP 72, on which he was serving as an Airborne Radio Communications Analyst, was downed by enemy fire over Laos.
TSGT Sherburn was born on 21 December 1939, in Weston, OR, and graduated from Evergreen High School, Vancouver, WA in 1953.
TSGT Sherburn enlisted in the U.S. Air Force on 12 February 1959. Following basic training and completion of the Radio Intercept Analyst Aid Course, he was assigned to Japan. In June 1963, he began his first Southeast Asia tour at Danang Air Base, Vietnam. In February 1964, he returned to Japan until February 1966, when he was reassigned to the Air Force Special Communications Group, Kelly AFB, TX. TSGT Sherburn returned to Vietnam on 19 September 1967, when he was assigned to Det 2, 6994th Security Squadron, Pleiku Air Base, Vietnam.
TSGT Sherburn was posthumously promoted to the grade of Technical Sergeant on 1 Jun 1969. His awards and decorations include the Distinguished Flying Cross (1st OLC), Purple Heart (posthumously) Air Medal (5th OLC), Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal, and Vietnam Service Medal.
TSGT Sherburn was originally interred in a communal grave at site 347, section 81, Jefferson Barracks Cemetery, St. Louis, MO. However, advanced DNA testing allowed for the positive identification of his remains, and he was repatriated to the Alder Grove Cemetery, Waldport, OR. His name is engraved on the Vietnam Veteran Memorial Wall on Panel 33W, line 69.
Sherburn Hall is a dormitory on Ft. Meade MD dedicated in TSGT Sherburn’s honor.
