Missing 35 years, pilot to be buried in Colo.
Staff report
An Air Force pilotÕs remains, once thought to be lost forever after his 1972 crash landed in Laos, will be buried nearly 35 years to the day after he died.
According to a Defense Department press release, Maj. John Carroll, of Decatur, Ga., was flying an O-1 Bird Dog Cessna propeller plane over Laos on Nov. 7, 1972. Enemy ground fire forced Carroll to land in the Xiangkhoang Province, an eastern region heavily bombed during the Vietnam War. Once grounded, he radioed for search-and-rescue helicopters and said he planned to stay with the aircraft.
When two helicopters attempted a recovery, they were forced to turn back under intense enemy fire. During a second attempt, a helicopter pilot saw that Carroll was dead, the release said. But enemy fire ended that mission to end before his remains could be airlifted out.
A joint U.S.-Laos team, led by the POW/MIA Accounting Command, found aircraft wreckage near the site in 1993. In 1996, with the cooperation of the Vietnamese, a similar team recovered CarrollÕs identification from witnesses and some of CarrollÕs belongings from a former North Vietnamese officer.
Another witness led them to the precise crash location, according to the release.
CarrollÕs remain were finally excavated this year. With family members present, he will be buried Nov. 13 with full military honors at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo.
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