POW: Memorandum For Correspondents No. 057-M
Bob Necci
For Prisoners Of War/Missing In Action, Inc. (AIIPOWMIAI)
Bob Necci and Andi Wolos
THE POW/MIA E-MAIL NETWORK (c)
aiiapr19.99a
No. 057-M
MEMORANDUM FOR CORRESPONDENTS April 16, 1999
The remains of six American servicemen previously unaccounted-for from
the war in Southeast Asia have been identified and are being returned
to their families for burial in the United States.
They are identified as Air Force Capt. Dean A. Wadsworth, Clarendon,
Texas; Marine SSgt. Harold E. Reid, Salt Lake City, Utah; Navy Lt.
David L. Hodges, Chevy Chase, Md.; Air Force Lt. Col. Lewis M.
Robinson, Saginaw, Mich.; Air Force Capt. Douglas K. Martin, Tyler,
Texas; and Air Force Capt. Samuel L. James, Chattanooga, Tenn.
On Oct. 8, 1963, Wadsworth and his South Vietnamese crewman were flying
their T-28B Trojan on a combat support mission approximately 50 miles
southwest of Da Nang, South Vietnam. As he completed his bombing run
over the target, his aircraft broke apart in mid air, crashed and
exploded, as reported by another pilot on the mission. A massive search
and rescue operation was initiated that day by two Marine helicopters
but they disappeared during the mission. At dawn on the following day,
Marine helicopters airlifted two companies of South Vietnamese
infantrymen to the area of the downed aircraft. As the helicopters
landed, enemy troops fired on them, wounding three Marine crewmen and
killing a Vietnamese soldier.
Two T-28s, B-26s and a South Vietnamese A-1 aircraft responded by
strafing enemy positions. An American L-19 light observation aircraft
directing the strike was hit, the Vietnamese observer was wounded, and
the aircraft made a forced landing. Meanwhile, the Vietnamese ground
troops found both Marine helicopters that had disappeared on the first
day. Ten bodies were recovered, but two remain missing in action to
this day. In the days during the search and rescue operations, 207
missions were flown, three aircraft were lost and four others damaged.
Fifteen South Vietnamese soldiers were killed and seven were wounded.
In late 1993, a Vietnamese local turned over remains he said were
recovered near the crash site. In May of the following year, a joint
U.S./Vietnamese team, led by the Joint Task Force-Full Accounting,
visited the area of the crash, interviewed villagers and obtained some
aircraft debris and pilot-related equipment. In September, another
joint team examined the crash site and found more debris, but no
remains. Then in May 1995, another team excavated the site where they
found remains, as well as two identification tags of Wadsworth.
On Sept. 13, 1967, Reid completed his tour guarding an observation post
near a river in Quang Nam Province, South Vietnam. Before dawn, he
crossed the bridge to visit a friend on the south side of the river. He
was never seen again. A joint U.S./Vietnamese team in August 1993
interviewed local informants who claimed to have buried an American
Marine who had been shot by the Vietcong near the river. The informants
stated that the body had been moved and reburied at another location,
but the team could not locate it. In September 1995, another team
interviewed other informants, but obtained little information.
Then in April 1996, a third team excavated the reported burial site
about 1,000 meters from the southern end of the bridge where they found
remains as well as material evidence and personal equipment.
On Oct. 7, 1967, Hodges was leading a strike mission near Hanoi, North
Vietnam when his A-4E Skyhawk was struck by an enemy surface-to-air
missile. His wingman reported receiving a radio transmission from the
lieutenant that his engine had flamed out. As the wingman watched,
Hodges' burning aircraft rolled to the right, entered a steep dive, and
crashed. No parachute was sighted and no emergency beeper signals were
heard. Because of enemy control of the area, there was no search and
rescue mission mounted.
Acting on information obtained from Vietnamese wartime documents, a
joint U.S./Vietnamese team interviewed villagers in July 1995 who
claimed to have visited the site shortly after the crash and buried the
pilot. But the crash crater had been filled with dirt to allow farming,
so the team found no evidence of a crash. But the following April,
another team mounted an excavation at the site where they did recover
remains, a wristwatch fragment, pilot-related items and aircraft
wreckage. Later, in September 1996, a third team continued the
excavation and found additional remains among the wreckage.
Robinson was flying his A-1E Skyraider on a close air support mission
over Saravane Province, Laos, on June 4, 1967, when he was struck by
enemy ground fire. His aircraft pitched up abruptly, struck the wing of
another aircraft, went into an inverted spin and crashed amid an
explosion. None of the other pilots in the flight reported seeing a
parachute nor hearing emergency beeper signals. Hostile threats in the
area prevented air or ground searches of the crash site.
In early 1988, representatives of the Laotian government turned over
remains to the U. S. Joint Casualty Resolution Center, the unit leading
joint recovery operations in Southeast Asia at the time. A joint
U.S./Lao team traveled to the area of the crash site in November 1993,
interviewed villagers, surveyed the area and recovered skeletal
fragments, aircraft wreckage and pilot-related equipment. Then in
January 1998, a second joint team excavated the site and recovered more
remains and personal equipment.
Martin and James were flying a forward air control mission over
Cambodia on April 18, 1973, when they descended below a 6,000-foot
layer of haze in their F-4E Phantom. They radioed they had the target
in sight, but their wingman was unable to maintain visual contact. He
asked Martin and James to give him an automatic direction-finder signal
but there was no response. On several passes over the target, the
wingman noted fires and explosions near the target area. There were no
parachutes sighted, nor emergency beeper signals. Enemy activity in the
area prevented a ground search, but aerial reconnaissance the following
day noted aircraft debris at the site.
In 1993, 1995 and 1997, three joint U.S./Cambodian teams developed
leads through interviews with local villagers and surveys of the crash
site. The informants noted that the crash site had been heavily
scavenged and that remains had been present at one time. Then in
January 1998, a joint team excavated the site where they found remains
amid numerous pieces of aircraft wreckage. Anthropological analysis of
the remains and other evidence by the US Army Central Identification
Laboratory, Hawaii confirmed the identification of all six of these
servicemen. With the accounting of these six, there are now 2,063
Americans unaccounted-for from the Vietnam War. Since the release of
American POWs in 1973, 520 MIAs from Southeast Asia have been
accounted-for and returned to their families for burial with full
military honors.
The US government welcomes and appreciates the cooperation of the
governments of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, the Lao People's
Democratic Republic, and the Kingdom of Cambodia that resulted in the
accounting of these servicemen. We hope that such cooperation will
bring increased results in the future. Achieving the fullest possible
accounting for these Americans is of the highest national priority.
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Advocacy And Intelligence Index
For Prisoners Of War/Missing In Action, Inc.
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E-mail: AIIPO...@aol.com (Bob Necci)
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