South Vietnam Bobby M. Jones
Jack R. Harvey
(1949)
On November 28, 1972, Captain Jones and First Lieutenant Harvey
departed Udorn Air Base, Thailand, to ferry an F-4D to Da Nang Air
Base, South Vietnam. The last contact with the crew was when they
were approximately 32 kilometers northwest of Da Nang and the
aircraft then disappeared from the radar screen. They did not
arrive at Da Nang and were declared missing. Search and rescue
aircraft in the area heard three "Mayday" calls and beeper signals
but could not associate them with this missing crew. Subsequent to
their disappearance, aircraft wreckage was located on Bach Ma
Mountain in Phu Loc District, Thua Thien Province and believed
associated with their crash site.
Returning U.S. POWs were unable to provide any information on the
eventual fate of the two missing airmen. In 1978 they were
declared killed in action, body not recovered, based on a
presumptive finding of death.
North Vietnam James R. McElvain
(1952)
On December 18, 1972, Major McElvain and Colonel Ronald Ward
departed Takhli Air Base, Thailand, in an F-111A for a single ship
strike mission over North Vietnam. At 2100 hours they radioed the
Joint Rescue Control Center that they'd attacked their assigned
target. At this point they were plotted to be approximately 26
miles east-southeast of the town of Nam Dinh and at the mouth of a
river along the Thai Binh/Nam Ha Province boundary and advised they
had passed over the coastline. There was no further transmission
from them and their intended course was to be out over the Gulf of
Tonkin. At 2129 hours they did not make a communications check.
An extensive search along their intended flight path failed to
disclose any evidence of either the aircraft or its crew and the
crew was declared missing in action.
On December 19, 1972, the People's Army reported it had shot down
a B-52 the previous night and captured seven airmen. In another
report, the seven captured were described as coming two B-52 and
another aircraft not further identified, from which they'd captured
a Lieutenant Colonel and a Major from a two man aircrew. On the
same day another unit radioed that three of those captured were
from a downed B-52 crew. No names of any Americans were in these
reports. These reports were placed in the files of the these
missing airmen.
One returnee stated he might have heard McElvain's name on a radio
broadcast. No other returnees heard the name and no regular
monitoring service reported his name on any domestic of foreign
broadcasts. A next of kin of one of the crewmen received a rumor
their aircraft had been shot down by a U.S. Navy aircraft.
Returning U.S. POWs had no information on the fate of the two
crewmen. After Operation homecoming they were declared killed in
action, body not recovered.
North Vietnam Arthur V. McLaughlin
John F. Stewart
Randolph A. Perry
Irwin S. Lerner
(1955)
On December 20, 1972, a B-52 with a six man crew departed Utapao
Air Base, Thailand, one in a cell of three B-52s who were part of
a larger bombing force on a nighttime ARC LIGHT bombing mission
over North Vietnam. At 2030 hours and prior to reaching their
target, the B-52 was hit by a surface to air missile. Attempts to
contact the crew were unsuccessful and darkness prevented the
sighting of any parachutes. Beepers were heard but could not be
correlated to any specific crewmen from this aircraft due to
multiple aircraft losses and beepers from other downed crewmen.
After the shoot down, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV)
announced the capture of one crewman, Captain Paul L. Granger and
a second crewman, Captain Thomas J. Klomann, was listed as a POW to
be repatriated on the DRV list provided the U.S. in Paris on
January 27, 1973.
After his release from captivity, Captain Granger stated that his
aircraft was attacked by a MIG aircraft when they were
approximately 70 kilometers from Hanoi. Then, surface to air
missiles were launched; one struck the right wing of their aircraft
and a second SAM exploded in front of the B-52's cockpit. There
was a noticeable thump which was either another exploding SAM or
the navigator, Captain Klomann, ejecting. Captain Granger ejected
at an altitude of 28,000 feet when ordered to do so by Major
Stuart, the aircraft commander. Neither Captain Granger nor
Captain Klomann had any information on the eventual fate of other
crewmen. The remaining crewmen, all declared missing in action, at
the time, were declared killed in action, body not recovered, by
1982.
Laos Frank A. Gould
(1959)
On December 20, 1972, a B-52D on a mission over North Vietnam was
hit by a surface to air missile while over Hanoi. The pilot
followed his exit route from the area and headed for Laos. The
aircraft started losing power 25 minutes later and there were
control problems with the aircraft. The crew initiated bailout
procedures that night while at an altitude of 19,000 feet and over
mountainous jungle terrain just over the border of North Vietnam
and over Laos.
Major Gould suffered injuries to his right arm and leg from the
surface to air missile explosion but had been able to apply
bandages to the bleeding which had nearly stopped by the time other
crewmen successfully ejected from the B-52. The aircraft's co-
pilot heard Major Gould's ejection seat firing sequence but did not
observe him eject from the aircraft. The aircraft crashed in Houa
Phan Province approximately 40 kilometers northeast of the Ban Ban
Valley in eastern Xieng Khouang Province. Search and rescue forces
recovered five crewmen on December 21st but there was no parachute
or beeper from Major Gould and he was declared missing in action.
On the late afternoon of December 21, SAR forces saw possible
mirror flashes from an area where the five survivors were rescued
but nightfall prevented identification of the source of the
possible mirror flashes. The SAR effort continued the next day in
the area but without locating any evidence of Major Gould.
One returning U.S. POW had knowledge of Major Gould, but what he
learned about Major Gould was received prior to his own mission.
He heard that Major Gould was alive on the ground and awaiting
rescue but no information in such a context has ever surfaced.
Major Gould's name did not appear in POW communications channels.
After Operation Homecoming Major Gould was declared killed in
action, body not recovered, based on a presumptive finding of
death.
In February 1991, U.S. intelligence received a report with identity
card information associated with Major Gould and traced to a
resident of Xieng Khouang Province. In March 1991, a report came
from a Lao resident in Thailand claiming that remains and artifacts
had been recovered from northeast Laos near the border of North
Vietnam. The report was believed possibly correlated to this
incident. In December 1991, a source turned over information
associated with a B-52 data plate and identity card information of
Frank A. Gould. The source provided hearsay information that Major
Gould was alive and living in Oudomsai Province, Laos, with a Lao
wife and four children in an area approximately 6-7 kilometers east
of the town of Ban Houay Sai near the border with Thailand.
Laos Paul V. Jackson, III
(1967)
On December 24, 1972, Captain Jackson was the pilot of an O-1
serving as a forward air controller for a flight of four A-7D
aircraft on combat operations over the southern portion of the
Plain of Jars, Xieng Khouang Province. Captain Jackson's aircraft
collided with an A-7D in an area approximately four kilometers west
of Route 5. The other aircraft's pilot, Captain Charles F. Reiss,
parachuted from his aircraft, was captured by People's Army of
Vietnam forces, and was transported to North Vietnam. The two
aircraft crashed 1500 yards apart and Captain Jackson's aircraft
exploded and burned on impact.
One good parachute was seen at the time and this was identified as
Captain Reiss who established voice contact from the ground,
reporting a leg injury. He was declared missing in action and
reclassified as a POW after his name appeared on the Pathet Lao
list released on February 1, 1973. He was released on March 28,
1973, during Operation Homecoming.
Returning U.S. POWs had no information on Captain Jackson. Captain
Jackson was declared killed in action, body not recovered, in
January 1973.
Laos John R. Wallerstedt
Steven B. Johnson
(1977)
On January 4, 1973, Captains Wallerstedt and Johnson were the crew
in an F-4D on an operational mission over Savannakhet Province.
Their aircraft was apparently struck by hostile groundfire and went
out of control while recovering from a bombing run. The aircraft
crashed approximately 30 kilometers southwest of Tchepone and five
kilometers north of Route 9. Both crewmen parachuted from the
aircraft and landed approximately 30 meters apart. The crewmen had
radio contact with one another while coming down in the parachute.
Search and rescue forces were later able to establish radio contact
with Captain Wallerstedt but did not establish contact with Captain
Johnson.
Captain Wallerstedt located Captain Johnson on the ground, pinned
under a tree limb too heavy for him to lift. It appeared that
Captain Johnson's parachute landing into trees had broken off a
limb which fell on him. Captain Johnson was unconscious, bleeding
profusely from the mouth and nose, and was gasping for breath.
After 15 minutes in that state Captain Wallerstedt could detect no
pulse. Due to approaching hostile ground forces, Captain
Wallerstedt left Captain Johnson, showing no signs of life, and
evaded. He was later rescued.
Captain Johnson was declared killed in action, body not recovered,
in January 1973. Returning U.S. POWs had no information on his
fate.
South Vietnam Richard A. Knutson
Mickey A. Wilson
William A. Stinson
Manuel A. Lauterio
Elbert W. Bush
William L. Dean
(1978)
On January 8, 1973, a UH-1H helicopter from the 62nd
Aviation Company with a crew of four and three passengers from the
Military Assistance Command Army Advisory Group departed Landing
Zone Sally in Quang Tri Province en route to Quang Tri City. It
was later reported to have flown across the Thach Han River into
hostile territory and circled twice with its guns firing at an
unknown ground target. It was then fired on by the People's Army
of Vietnam using SA-7 ground to air missiles. The first missile
missed and the second hit the helicopter's boom. A third hit the
helicopter proper prior to its crash in the area of the South
Vietnamese Army's Ai Tu Combat Base. Multiple SA-7 launches drove
off SAR forces in the area of the helicopter shoot down. The seven
servicemen were declared missing in action.
Subsequent to their loss, CIA forwarded hearsay information from a
Vietnamese source reporting a helicopter had been shot down on
January 8, 1973, in the area of this loss incident. Four U.S.
pilots were reportedly captured and the fate of two other crewmen
was unknown. DIA later determined that CIA had terminated the
source due to possible fabrication of information.
DIA In August 1973, DIA received a hearsay report of a helicopter
crash site in the area of this loss incident. Two remains were
reportedly in the crash site area in Trieu Phong District, Quang
Tri Province.
Returning U.S. POWs had no information on the precise fate of the
missing servicemen. After Operation Homecoming, all were declared
dead/body not recovered, based on a presumptive finding of death.
South Vietnam Mark A. Peterson
George W. Morris, Jr.
(1981)
See Vessey 135 Discrepancy Cases for case summary.
Laos Arthur D. Bollinger
Dale Brandenburg
Peter R. Cressman
Joseph A. Matejov
Todd M. Melton
Severo J. Primm, III
George R. Spitz
(1983)
On February 5, 1973, an EC-47Q disappeared over Saravan Province
while on an electronic intelligence mission. An airborne search
effort later located the wreckage of the aircraft. A ground search
team located three or four charred bodies and was able to recover
one of them, the remains of Robert E. Bernhardt. In providing his
own analytical comments concerning the meaning of a Vietnam
People's Army radio message intercepted shortly after the loss of
the EC-47Q, Baron 52, an U.S. Air Force communications analyst
concluded the substance of the message indicated that several of
the Baron 52 had been captured alive and were being moved to North
Vietnam. However, based on the condition of the crash site and the
evidence found there, the commander of the unit concluded that
those on the aircraft had all perished. In February 1973 the crew
was declared killed in action, body not recovered based on a
presumptive finding of death.
In June 1989, a private U.S. POW/MIA hunter in Thailand reported
information from a self declared Lao resistance leader that six of
the Baron 52 crew were alive and he believed they were being held
in Saravan Province. In June 1990, a DIA field element in
Thailand, the Stony Beach Team, received information from a source
asserting that five of the crew were alive and living with ethnic
Lao Theung in Laos (Bollinger, Brandenburg, Spitz, Primm,
Cressman.) A Lao resistance group asserted it would take action.
DIA concluded this was a similar to the earlier and fabricated
report.
In the fall of 1992, the Senate Select Committee received sworn
testimony from DIA's senior POW/MIA analyst, Robert DeStatte. Mr.
DeStatte provided detailed information on what was known about the
disappearance of Baron 52 and the intercepted North Vietnamese
communications, noting that the report that so excited the U.S. Air
Force analyst actually related to the movement of four airmen to
the area of the port city of Vinh in the panhandle of North Vietnam
and hundreds of kilometers from the site of Baron 52's
disappearance. With such a message received only minutes after the
loss of Baron 52 in South Laos, DIA concluded the report correlated
to airmen other than those in Baron 52.
In October 1992 the Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on
POW/MIA Affairs forwarded his strong recommendation to the Lao
Government that the planned crash site investigation of Baron 52
take place as scheduled. On November 2, 1992, a joint U.S./Lao
team traveled to Sekong Province and to the crash site of Baron 52.
The team found the wreckage still there. Two witnesses were
interviewed who described the crash of the aircraft and the
resultant fire. One witness described visiting the site the next
morning and finding a burned corpse which was recovered by SAR
aircraft. Three North Vietnamese advisors arrived several days
later to inspect the site.
The joint team recovered one of Joseph A. Matejov's dog tags from
the site as well as personal and military artifacts, including
pieces of two flight suits. The team's recovery of unopened
parachute canopy releases indicated some of the missing crewmen
were undoubtedly still on board the aircraft at the time of impact.
South Vietnam Joseph G. Greenleaf
Clemie McKinney
(2044)
On April 14, 1972, Lieutenants Greenleaf and McKinney were the crew
in an F-4J, one in a flight of three over an area approximately 25
kilometers northwest of Quang Tri City, Quang Tri Province. A
forward air controller observed five rounds of antiaircraft fire
hit the cockpit area of their aircraft midway through a bombing run
and crash just south of the Demilitarized Zone separating North and
South Vietnam. It was observed throughout the dive and impact by
a forward air controller who reported the aircraft crashed with
canopies in place and there were no ejections. Both crewmen were
declared missing in action.
Returning U.S. POWs had no information on their precise fate.
After Operation Homecoming they were declared killed in action,
body not recovered, based on a presumptive finding of death.
On August 14, 1985, Vietnamese officials repatriated remains
identified as Lieutenant McKinney. U.S. officials were told that
Lieutenant Greenleaf had died at Cua Viet, Quang Tri Province, in
November 1972. In August 1991, U.S. investigators in Vietnam
uncovered records of the 280th Air Defense Regiment referencing the
downing of an Aircraft on April 14, 1972 and possibly associated
with this loss incident. One shovel on display at the unit museum
was reportedly recovered by the 103th Battalion from the aircraft's
crash site.
Laos Melvin A. Holland
Herbert A. Kirk
Patrick L. Shannon
Henry G. Gish
Willis R. Hall
Clarence F. Blanton
James H. Calfee
James W. Davis
Dave S. Price
Donald K. Springsteadah
Don F. Worley
(2052)
On March 11, 1968, a group of U.S. Air Force military technicians
with personal documentation as civilian members of Lockheed
Aircraft Service were based on Phou Pha Thi Mountain at Site 85 in
Houa Phan Province. This was a covert operation in Laos known by
the code name Project HEAVY GREEN. In the early morning pre-dawn
hours of March 11th, the site was assaulted and overrun by a force
of People's Army of Vietnam Bartels sappers. Eight technicians
escaped and were evacuated, one of whom died later while en route
to Ubon, Thailand. Eleven others at the TACAN site were declared
missing. All were later reinstated to their U.S. Air Force service
status and rank.
In March 1970 the families were brought to Washington and briefed
on the circumstances of loss of these servicemen. Returning U.S.
POWs had no information on their precise fate. In 1982 the
Secretary of the Air Force declassified the project for the first
time and the 11 U.S. Air Force servicemen who became missing at
Lima Site 85 on Phou Pha Thi Mountain were entered onto the Defense
Department's official casualty roles as killed in action, body not
recovered.
In 1972, an officer of the People's Army of Vietnam, described to
the Army Attache's Exploitation Team (Project 5310-03-E) senior
Interrogation Officer how his unit was preceded up the karst by a
hand picked small sapper force which overcame U.S. personnel at the
TACAN site. He heard some were thrown off the cliff. The People's
Army forces seized sensitive equipment and documents before the
TACAN site was bombed by U.S. aircraft. The officer was not aware
of any American who was taken prisoner or survived the sapper
assault and is the only People's Army source who assaulted Site 85
and came into U.S. hands during the war.
One report from the same Exploitation Team in 1972 from a former
Pathet Lao described a male caucasian being escorted to the Pathet
Lao Headquarters early in 1968 but this sighting could not be
correlated to those at Lima Site 85. In late 1990 a former Pathet
Lao stated that three U.S. had indeed survived and had been taken
away from Site 85. This report followed a January 1989 report from
a private U.S. citizen and POW/MIA hunter offering information on
275 U.S. POWs in Southeast Asia at 17 different locations, 3 of
whom correlated to names of those missing at Site 85.
Over water Harry E. Mitchell
Michael J. Kustigian
(2053)
On the morning of May 6, 1968, Seamen Mitchell and Kustigian did
not report for an assigned worked detail on board the U.S.S. Long
Beach. The Long Beach was at the time an estimated 40 miles off
the coast of Central Vietnam in the South China Sea and heading
into the Gulf of Tonkin. An on-board investigation failed to
disclose any cogent reason for the disappearance of the two seamen
and they were reported missing. Both had been confirmed on board
the ship the previous evening when the ship was well at to sea.
However, a later U.S. Navy review board classified the two men as
deserters and they were not listed as Southeast Asia casualties due
to the Defense Department's policy of excluding deserters from
casualty reports.
In 1979 the U.S. Navy reviewed its previous findings in the case of
Mitchell and Kustigian. Upon review, both seamen were declared
missing non-hostile and then declared dead/body not recovered,
based on a presumptive finding of death.
After their initial disappearance, a Stars and Stripes article
erroneously reported them as having been located. Another report
offered information that Harry Mitchell was seen later in the
United States but this was never confirmed and neither seaman has
ever been confirmed alive since the night of May 5th/6th, 1968 and
the precise circumstances of their disappearance and fate have
never been definitely established.
