Courtesy Photo | 1st Lt. John Cochrane (left), while on a special assignment with the 1st Australian Task Force (Photo Courtesy of 303d MI Battalion)
Episode 2688 of the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast will feature a story about the sad case of Vietnam Vet 1st Lt. John F. Cochrane. The featured story appeared on the Defense Visual Information Distribution Service website and was titled: 1st Lt. Cochrane Killed by Viet Cong Sniper. The story was submitted by Lori Stewart, the U.S. Army Intelligence Center of Excellence Command Historian.
DVIDS is a state-of-the-art, 24/7 operation owned by DMA (Defense Media Activity) that provides a timely, accurate and reliable connection between the media around the world and the military serving at home and abroad.
The mission statement of the DVIDS is to provide an accurate, reliable source for media organizations to access U.S. service members and commanders deployed in support of military operations worldwide.
In the story, Stewart reported that On 24 October 1966, 1st Lt. John F. Cochrane of the 409th Radio Research Detachment (RRD), 303d Radio Research Battalion, was killed by a Viet Cong sniper while looking for a suitable site to set up a PRD-1 direction finder. He was one of two battlefield losses within the detachment.
In 1963, John F. Cochrane was a 23-year-old Michigan native who had enlisted in the U.S. Army after two years at Taylor University in Indiana, where he was working toward a degree in psychology. After completing Infantry Officer Candidate School, Airborne School, and Jungle Warfare School, he was assigned to Lt. Col. John J. Masters’ 303d Army Security Agency (ASA) Battalion in Fort Wolters, Texas.
He arrived in Vietnam on September 8, 1966 as a member of the 409th RRD. On the morning of 24 October 1966 while locating a PRD-1 listening post, he was killed by a Viet Cong sniper. It was six months into his tour and just one week before he was scheduled to meet his wife in Hawaii.
Listen to episode 2688 and discover more about the sad story of Vietnam Vet 1st Lt. John F. Cochrane.
