The Last Night at Checkpoint 28: Remembering SP4 Herbert J. Lottes and the CRIP Six

On the night of June 29, 1969, tragedy struck Checkpoint 28 in Binh Duong Province, South Vietnam. A Combined Reconnaissance and Intelligence Platoon (CRIP) team attached to the 2nd Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division, was resting alongside their Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) counterparts when a devastating explosion ripped through the bunker where the American soldiers were sleeping.

Among those lost that night was Specialist Fourth Class Herbert J. Lottes, one of six CRIP soldiers killed in the blast. Serving in one of the Vietnam War’s most demanding and dangerous assignments, Lottes and his fellow CRIP soldiers operated in small intelligence teams alongside South Vietnamese forces. Their mission required them to gather information on enemy movements and activities, often placing them in isolated locations away from the protection of larger American formations.

The six soldiers who died at Checkpoint 28—SP4 Herbert J. Lottes, SP4 Courtney J. Cosgrove, Sergeant Charles F. Clendenin, SP5 Donald Paul Davies, SP4 Wayne H. Emerson, and Corporal Ernest M. Staines—left behind a legacy shaped by both service and unanswered questions. An official investigation concluded that lightning had detonated Claymore mines inside the bunker, causing the explosion. However, some surviving CRIP members and fellow soldiers later questioned that explanation, noting that there had been no reported storm activity that night and raising the possibility that the blast may have resulted from another cause.

More than five decades later, the exact circumstances surrounding the explosion remain uncertain. What is clear is the dedication of the men who served in the Combined Reconnaissance and Intelligence Platoons. Their work placed them on the front lines of a different kind of battle, one fought through intelligence gathering, observation, and the constant uncertainty of operating deep within hostile territory.

Today, we remember SP4 Herbert J. Lottes and the five other CRIP soldiers who lost their lives at Checkpoint 28. Their mission may have taken place away from the larger battles of Vietnam, but their courage and sacrifice were no less significant.

Their names, their service, and their sacrifice deserve to be remembered.