6 airmen from Vietnam War missing since 1965 returned

[sf11b_p]

Remains identified as 6 airmen from Vietnam War missing since 1965

The remains of six servicemen, missing in action from the Vietnam War, have been identified and are being returned to their families for burial with full military honors, the Department of Defense's POW/Missing Personnel Office announced Thursday.

The crew aboard an AC-47D aircraft nicknamed "Spooky" failed to return from a combat strike mission in southern Laos on Dec. 24, 1965. All contact with the crew was lost following an initial "mayday" signal. Search efforts for the crew and aircraft were unsuccessful.

Those on board were Air Force Col. Joseph Christiano of Rochester, N.Y.; Col. Derrell B. Jeffords of Florence, S.C.; Lt. Col. Dennis L. Eilers of Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Chief Master Sgt. William K. Colwell of Glen Cove, N.Y.; Chief Master Sgt. Arden K. Hassenger of Lebanon, Ore.; and Chief Master Sgt. Larry C. Thornton of Idaho Falls, Idaho.

Col. Joseph Christiano's oldest child, Barbara Annechino, was 21 at the time, and said that she had never given up hope that her dad may be alive, the Democrat and Chronicle reports.

Christiano was 43 years old at the time of the crash in Laos. He was a career serviceman and veteran of World War II and Korean War.

A joint United States-Lao People's Democratic Republic search team investigated a crash in Laos in 1995, when villagers said they remembered seeing an aircraft crash in December 1965. The team was able to recover small pieces of wreckage, which prompted further investigation.

The joint search and recovery teams returned to the site four times between 1999 and 2001, conducting additional interviews with locals as part of the investigation. The team then began excavating the site, but did not recover any human remains at the time.

More than 300 American personnel are missing from Laos, where the U.S. bombarded supply lines of communist guerrillas fighting U.S. forces in neighboring Vietnam.

Search efforts were suspended until 2010. The Department of Defense reported that the joint team has since recovered human remains, personal items and military equipment, which scientists from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command identified using dental records and other evidence.

The six men's remains will be buried as a group in a single casket representing the entire crew on Monday in Arlington National Cemetery, the Department of Defense said.

“It is a great honor and that this crew really deserves. They really are heroes,” Annechino told the Democrat and Chronicle.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/07/05...ar-identified/

RIP

Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 15 March 1991 from one or more of
the following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence
with POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews. Updated by the P.O.W.
NETWORK 1999.

REMARKS: MAYDAY HEARD - SEARCH NEG - J

SYNOPSIS: On December 24, 1965, President Lyndon Johnson announced a
week-long bombing halt on North Vietnam. That same day, an AC47D "Spooky"
gunship was shot down during an armed reconnaissance flight just south of
the city of Ban Bac in Saravane Province, Laos. Planes in the area of the
loss of the plane heard mayday signals, but were unable to establish contact
with the crew.

The Spooky had evolved from the famed "Puff the Magic Dragon" versions of
the Douglas C47. Puff introduced a new principle to air attack in Vietnam.
Troubled by difficulties in conducting nighttime defense, Capt. Ronald Terry
of the U.S. Air Force Aeronautical Systems Division remembered reading about
flying missionaries in Latin America who lowered baskets of supplies on a
rope from a tightly circling airplane. Throughout the series of pylon turns,
the basket remained suspended over a selected point on the ground. Could
this principle be applied to fire from automatic weapons? Tests proved it
could, and could be extremely successful.

Puff's "flare kicker" illuminated the target, then the pilot used a mark on
the window to his left as a gun sight and circled slowly as three
multibarrel 7-62mm machine guns fired 18,000 rounds per minute from the door
and two windows in the port side of the passenger compartment. The aircraft
was called "Puff" after a popular song of the day, and because it resembled
a dragon overhead with flames billowing from its guns. Men on the ground
welcomed the presence of Puff and the later Spooky version, which was
essentially the same as the Puff, because of its ability to concentrate a
heavy dose of defensive fire in a surgically determined area. These aircraft
were very successful defending positions in South Vietnam, but proved unable
to survive against the anti-aircraft defenses in Laos.

The Spooky lost in Laos on December 24, 1965 was flown by Col. Derrel B.
Jeffords and Capt. Dennis L. Eilers. The crew aboard the aircraft was Maj.
Joseph Christiano, MSgt. Larry C. Thornton, TSgt. W. Kevin Colwell, and
SSgt. Arden K. Hassenger.

When 591 Americans were released from Vietnam in 1973, the Spooky crew was
not among them. As a matter of fact, no American held in Laos was (or has
been) released. The Lao were not included in negotiations ending American
involvement in the war in Southeast Asia.

In June 1989, Arden Hassenger's wife was informed that a report had been
received saying her husband had been sighted alive in Laos. This report is
one of nearly 10,000 relating to Americans missing in Southeast Asia
received by the U.S. Government since the war ended. Mrs. Hassenger was
unable to sleep to sleep at night wondering and worrying, yet Arden
Hassenger is still missing.

According to a National League of POW/MIA families list, Christiano also
survived the incident.

A September 13, 1968 statement by Soth Pethrasi was monitored from Puerto
Rico in which Christiano and Jeffords were mentioned. The report stated that
"Smith, Christiano, Jeffords, and Mauterer" were part of "several dozen
captured Airmen" whom the Pathet Lao were "treating correctly and who were
still in Laos. Another name, Norman Morgan, captured January 9, 1968, was
mentioned but is not on lists of missing. This is believed to correlate to
Norman Green, lost on January 9, 1968 in Laos.

Christiano and Jeffords were never classified Prisoner of War. Few lost in
Laos ever were. Like Christiano and Jeffords, many were suspected to be
alive on the ground and in radio contact with search and rescue and other
planes; some were known to have been captured. Hanoi's communist allies in
Laos, the Pathet Lao, publicly spoke of American prisoners they held, but
when peace agreements were negotiated, Laos was not included, and not a
single American was released that had been held in Laos.

Were it not for the thousands of reports concerning Americans still held
captive in Southeast Asia, the Christiano and Jeffords families might be
able to close this tragic chapter of their lives. But as long as Americans
are alive, being held captive, Joseph Christiano and Derrell Jeffords could
be among them. It's time we brought these men home.

During the period he was maintained missing, Joseph Christiano was promoted
to the rank of Colonel.

July 5, 2012

AIRMEN MISSING FROM VIETNAM WAR IDENTIFIED

The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of six U.S. servicemen, missing in action from the Vietnam War, were recently identified and are being returned to their families for burial with full military honors.

Air Force Col. Joseph Christiano, 43, of Rochester, N.Y.; Col. Derrell B. Jeffords, 40, of Florence, S.C.; Lt. Col. Dennis L. Eilers, 27, Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Chief Master Sgt. William K. Colwell, 44, Glen Cove, N.Y.; Chief Master Sgt. Arden K. Hassenger, 32, of Lebanon, Ore.; and Chief Master Sgt. Larry C. Thornton, 33, Idaho Falls, Idaho, will be buried as a group July 9, in a single casket representing the entire crew, in Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C. On Dec. 24, 1965, the crew was aboard an AC-47D aircraft nicknamed “Spooky” that failed to return from a combat strike mission in southern Laos. After a “mayday” signal was sent, all contact was lost with the crew. Following the crash, two days of search efforts for the aircraft and crew were unsuccessful.

In 1995, a joint U.S./Lao People’s Democratic Republic (L.P.D.R.) team investigated a crash in Savannakhet Province, Laos. Local villagers recalled seeing a two-propeller aircraft, similar to an AC-47D, crash in December 1965. A local man found aircraft wreckage in a nearby field while farming, and led the team to that location. The team recovered small pieces of aircraft wreckage at that time and recommended further investigative visits.

Joint U.S./L.P.D.R. investigation and recovery teams re-visited the site four times from 1999 to 2001. They conducted additional interviews with locals, recovered military equipment, and began an excavation. No human remains were recovered, so the excavation was suspended pending additional investigation.

In 2010, joint U.S./L.P.D.R. recovery teams again excavated the crash site. The team recovered human remains, personal items, and military equipment. Three additional excavations in 2011 recovered additional human remains and evidence.

Scientists from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command used dental records and circumstantial evidence in the identification of their remains.

For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for missing Americans, visit the DPMO web site at http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo or call (703) 699-1420.

I have no access to post in the MIA/POW section so I posted here.

[greenberetTFS]

Gone,but not forgotten......


www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wn_iz8z2AGw - Cached

God Bless,Rest in Peace Warrior.....

He was just a simple soldier and his ranks are growing thin
But his presence should remind us; we may need his like again,
For when countries are in conflict, then we find the soldier's part
Is to clean up all the troubles that the politicians start.
If we cannot do him honor while he's here to hear the praise,
Then at least let's give him homage at the ending of his days.......

Perhaps just a simple headline in the paper that might say:
OUR COUNTRY IS IN MOURNING, FOR A SOLDIER DIED TODAY. (author unknown)

The passing of our soldiers often go unnoticed and unsung by most of the world, remembered only by family and friends. Wish it were not so. May he RIP, his family will be in my thoughts and prayers.........

I realize it's a Canadian song,however I believe most appropriate for this occasion..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrkgV5bl7kQ

Big Teddy

[Susa]

Welcome Home. RIP.

[Gypsy]

Welcome home Warriors, may you Rest in Peace and may your family find peace.

[Sohei]

Welcome home!