Airmen are laid to rest at last
A plane bearing six crew members went down in 1966 in Laos. The plane lay undisturbed for nearly 30 years. An Overbrook man was among those on board.
By Gayle Ronan Sims Inquirer Staff Writer
ARLINGTON, Va. - Nearly 40 years after their plane went down on a night mission in Laos, six members of the U.S. Air Force's Fourth Air Commando Squadron were laid to rest yesterday at Arlington National Cemetery. Their remains, which had laid undisturbed in dense jungle for years, were buried in a single standard stainless-steel coffin. The solemn ceremony was accompanied by all the pageantry the Air Force could muster.
On a crisp, windswept fall morning, the casket covered with their nation's flag was carried on a horse-drawn caisson that followed a military band that could be heard before it came into view of the hundreds of people who traveled from all parts of the country for the burial of men long dead.
The caisson was followed to the graveside by family members, some on foot, and others who rode in vehicles. There, an honor guard removed the casket and placed it on the ground, and chaplain Col. David E. Boyles delivered a eulogy. That was followed by taps, a rifle volley, and a flyover by a single C-130, the successor to the AC-47 "Spooky" gunships, one of which for years held the bodies of Air Force Col. Theodore E. Kryszak, of Buffalo, N.Y.; Col. Harding E. Smith, of Los Gatos, Calif; Lt. Col. Russell D. Martin, of Bloomfield, Iowa; Chief Master Sgt. Harold E. Mullins, of Denver; Chief Master Sgt. Luther L. Rose, of Howe, Texas; and Chief Master Sgt. Ervin Warren, of the Overbrook section of Philadelphia.
Their grave will be marked with a single headstone containing their names.
Their plane went down about 9:25 p.m. on June 3, 1966, in the jungle 30 miles northeast of Tchepone in Khannouan province. The plane had been on a reconnaissance mission over southern Laos, where U.S. forces were secretly fighting communist Laotian and North Vietnamese forces.
According to the Pentagon, the crew radioed, "We have hot fire," and another transmission was heard to order: "Bail out!" After that, nothing.
The Pentagon said witnesses reported the plane was on fire, then crashed into a heavily wooded area. No parachutes from the crew were seen, and no emergency beepers were heard. An aerial search of the site yielded nothing.
The AC-47 was a World War II-era cargo that during the Vietnam War was outfitted with machine guns and painted black.
"It was a fierce weapon, feared by the enemy," said Larry Greer, spokesman for the Pentagon's POW/MIA office.
The AC-47, however, flew low and was vulnerable to enemy fire. Also, crews had to manually ignite and throw flares out to light up the target area, increasing its exposure to hostile fire. That was Chief Master Sgt. Warren's job.
After the plane went down, it remained out of view until 1994, when a villager led a team of U.S. and Laotian specialists to it. The specialists found personal effects, aircraft wreckage, pieces of uniforms and a dog tag, the Pentagon said.
Next year, an excavation was done. Human remains were sent to the Central Identification Laboratory in Hawaii, where scientists used forensic techniques to study dental charts and X-rays. DNA sequencing was done by the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory in Hawaii. The remains were identified last year.
More than 88,000 Americans are missing in action from all wars. Of these, 1,849 are from the Vietnam War era.
The youngest of nine children, Chief Master Sgt. Ervin Warren was born Sept. 6, 1936, in Live Oak, Fla., and moved to West Philadelphia when he was a child. He graduated from Overbrook High School in 1953, and the following year married Ida Johnson and joined the Air Force. He planned to make the Air Force his career, his family said.
The couple had three children and moved from station to station before he was assigned to Fourth Air Commando Squadron based in Nha Trang, South Vietnam. The family was living at McCord Air Force Base in Tacoma, Wash.
"My dad loved being in the Air Force," said son Forrest, 46, of Tacoma, who was 7 when he last saw his father. "In 12 years in the Air Force, Dad saw the world - Hawaii, Alaska, Africa and Europe."
His father did not volunteer for duty in Vietnam, but it was a natural transition for a man who was a lifer, had learned some Vietnamese, and had been trained as a cargo loadmaster on the AC-47.
"Mother was notified soon after my dad was listed MIA," Forrest Warren said. "She did not tell us until six months later. She thought that if anyone could have survived, he could have."
Forrest Warren was accompanied by his brother, Ervin Jr., who also came from Tacoma; their uncle Walter Warren, from New Brunswick, N.J.; aunts Annette Lampkin and Edith Warren from West Philadelphia; and many nieces and nephews. Ida Warren died at 48 of heart disease, and Ervin and Ida's daughter, Angie Waters, was ill and could not make the trip.
Balinda Warren-Varlow of New Brunswick, the sons' cousin, said she remembers her uncle's broad smile.
"Every two years, we have a family reunion," she said. "I always put Ervin's picture up so family members remember him. His spirit will always be with us.
"After this ceremony, I have to accept that he is not coming back," she said.
Chief Master Sgt. Warren was also remembered by a Philadelphian who never knew him.
Sam Longo, 67, of South Philadelphia, has worn a bracelet with Ervin Warren's name on it for decades and every Christmas has decorated the spot where his name is etched on the Philadelphia Vietnam Veterans Memorial, near Penn's Landing.
Sick with cancer, Longo said Wednesday he was sorry he was going to miss the ceremony.
"I will keep wearing the bracelet, just for his memory," Longo said.
ŠPhiladelphia Inquirer