Currently, there are still over 1,100 American soldiers still missing in Viet Nam. A unit of the Department of Defense called Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) continues to try to find, identify, and return these soldiers to their families. This past June and July, the JPAC was able to conclusively notify five families that their loved ones were finally on their way home.
Chief Warrant Officer 2 Don Wann stands in front of an injured Huey helicopter during his first tour of duty in Vietnam around 1968.
Wann, a former pilot with the 101st Airborne Division, and 1st Lt. Paul Mager, were shot down on June 1, 1971 but their bodies were never found. Wann and Magers were both members of the 158th Aviation Battalion, 160th Aviation Group, 101st Airborne Division, now based at Fort Campbell, Ky.
That fateful day, the two were deployed in a Cobra gunship to extract a group of Army Rangers under attack, then destroy left behind ammunition and mines near Hill 1015, or Dong Tri Mountain.
Wann and Mager's remains were recently identfied and returned to their native native states- Wann to Oklahoma and Mager to Nebraska- to be laid to rest with full military honors.
More details can be found at this
Army Times article.
On April 11, 1965, Navy Lt. William E. Swanson was the pilot of an A-1H Skyraider aircraft and nearing the end of his tour, but he would never make it back home. His plane was hit by enemy fire over Khammouan Province, Laos. Lt. Swanson was 27 years old.
The wreckage of his aircraft was found in 2009, but he was only recently positively identified. His remains will be returned to his family in Crystal , MN, where he will be laid to rest with full military honors.
More details can be found at this
article.
Air Force 1st Lt. Robert E Bennett III from Spingfield, NJ, was listed as MIA in 1967 after his F-4C fighter jet was hit by enemy fire and went down in Tra Vinh Binh province on Dec 13. Bennett and his aircraft commander Capt. William Sakahara both ejected and were seen going into the Co Chien river. Though the co-pilot was rescued immediately, Bennett was never located and presumably drowned.
In 2010, a Vietnamese man reported discovering human remains and military equipment while dredging sand from the river. Using DNA evidence, the JPAC identified the remains positively as Bennett, and he has been transported to his next of kin, in Montrose, CO, for burial with full military honors. Sakahara, now a retired lieutenant colonel, delivered the eulogy.
More details in this
article.
On March 1, 1969, Capt. Clyde W. Campbell, of Longview, Texas was a pilot aboard an A-1J Skyraider that crashed while carrying out a close air support mission in Houaphan province, Laos.
In 1997, a joint team of U.S. and Lao People's Democratic Republic officials investigated a crash site in Houaphan province within 330 feet of the last known location of Campbell. In addition to human remains, the team located aircraft wreckage and military equipment, which correlated with Campbell's aircraft.
From 2009 to 2010, additional joint U.S.-L.P.D.R. recovery teams investigated and excavated the crash site three times. The teams recovered additional human remains, military equipment -- including an aircraft data plate -- and a .38-caliber pistol matching the serial number issued to Campbell.
Scientists from the JPAC used circumstantial evidence and forensic identification tools in the identification of Campbell. Campbell was recently laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetary; the service was attended by his widow, two daughters, and six grandchildren.
For additional information on the Defense Department's mission to account for missing Americans, visit the DPMO website at
http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo.
