Senate Select Committee - Vessey 135 Discrepancy Cases

South Vietnam Daniel A. Gerber
Eleanor A. Vietti
Archie E. Mitchell
(0011)

Mr. Gerber, Dr. Vietti and Mr. Mitchell were taken prisoner on May 30, 1962 while at a leprosarium near the South Vietnamese mountain town of Banmethuot. In November 1962, documents which stated that the three individuals captured on May 30th were killed were taken from hostile forces 50 kilometers southwest of the leprosarium. Mr. Gerber's passport was recovered in February 1963; missing were pages containing his name and photograph.

The three civilians were reported captured. Returning U.S. POWs had no information on their presence in the Vietnamese prison system.

Since April 1989, the Joint Casualty Resolution Center has interviewed subjects in Vietnam concerning this incident. All information obtained to date confirms that the three were captured and killed because they were suspected of being American spies. Their remains were reportedly disinterred in 1980 by unidentified persons, and they can not now be located.

South Vietnam Donald G. Cook
(0050)

On December 31, 1964, Captain Cook was serving as an advisor with a South Vietnamese Marine battalion at Binh Gia, Phuoc Tuy Province. His unit was hit by a large Viet Cong force, and Captain Cook was captured. He was initially reported missing but was confirmed a prisoner in good health by Sergeant Comacho, who was released from captivity on July 9, 1965.

On December 2, 1965, Captain Cook joined two other U.S. POWs, Staff Sergeant Harold G. Bennett and Private Crafts, at a Viet Cong prison camp. They were held together at four different prison camps.

On December 22, 1970, the Provisional Revolutionary Government released a died in captivity list which included the name of Captain Cook whom it stated had died of malaria on December 8, 1967.

One American POW repatriated during Operation Homecoming reported being told by a prison guard that Captain Cook died of malaria in December 1967 while being moved between prison camps in northern Tay Ninh Province.

Captain Cook's name was included on the Provisional Revolutionary Government's list of died in captivity released on January 27, 1973. In February 1980 Captain Cook was declared dead/body not recovered.

South Vietnam Kurt C. McDonald
Edward R. Dodge
(0051)

On December 31, 1964, Captain McDonald, a U.S. Air Force pilot, and Sergeant First Class Dodge, a member of the 5th Special Forces Group, took off from Da Nang, Quang Nam Province, in an 0-1F to conduct a visual reconnaissance mission en route to a Special Forces camp in the A Shau Valley, Thua Thien Province. They did not arrive and were declared missing. They were last seen by another aircraft approximately 12 nautical miles northwest of Da Nang while flying over Quang Nam Province.

On the morning of December 31, 1964, one homer beacon was broadcast on an emergency radio frequency, but this could not be correlated to an NRS-8 radio set that Sergeant Dodge was carrying to A Shau to be used in covert operations. A woodcutter reported in April 1965 that during that month he observed two U.S. POWs in Thua Thien Province at a point on the Lao/Vietnamese border. He learned that one of the Americans was a pilot and one was an infantryman. They were said to have been captured in June 1964 and were being marched off to the northwest. In 1966, a report was received from a former North Vietnamese Army soldier identifying a photograph of Sergeant Dodge as an inmate he saw at Hoa Lo Prison. Other reports of sightings of Americans passing through the particular area in which these individuals were lost were placed in their files.

Neither serviceman was ever confirmed alive in the Vietnamese prison system. Captain McDonald was declared dead/body not ecovered in August 1982. Sergeant Dodge was declared dead/body not recovered in October 1977.

South Vietnam James H. McLean
(0054)

On February 9, 1965, Sergeant McLean was assigned as a medic with an American advisory team working with the South Vietnamese Army's 876th Regional Force Company. He was reported captured when their position was overrun by Viet Cong forces and was identified in captivity by an prison escapee who stated Sergeant McLean was suffering from malaria when last seen alive.

Sergeant McLean was carried in a POW status at the time of Operation Homecoming. After the end of hostilities, he was declared dead/body not recovered. Returning U.S. POWs were unable to provide any information on his fate.

U.S. field team interviews in South Vietnam in March 1992 located a former nurse who worked at the Phuoc Long Province hospital. She described the arrival at her hospital of an individual corresponding to Sergeant McLean. He arrived at the hospital in April 1965 suffering from severe malaria. He died there approximately ten days after his arrival. The investigation of his loss incident is continuing.

South Vietnam Charles A. Dale
David S. Demmon
(0094)

First Lieutenant Dale and Specialist 4th Class Demmon were flying reconnaissance in an OV-1C on June 9, 1965 and were last known located over Vinh Binh Province. They did not return from their mission. They were initially listed as missing in action, although U.S. intelligence began to receive reports indicating they had been captured.

In December 1970, a prisoner identified Demmon's photograph as the picture of an individual imprisoned in a POW camp in Kampong Cham Province, Cambodia. This led to his reclassification from missing in action to prisoner of war. Another report was received in March 1971 stating Demon was alive in a prison at Kratie, Cambodia in January 1970. The source was given a polygraph, and there was no indication of deception. Other reported sightings of unnamed caucasians were placed in Demmon's file as possibly correlating to him, including one in 1966 which placed him in Central Vietnam.

Demmon was carried as a POW at the end of Operation Homecoming. Both Demmon and Dale were later declared dead/body not recovered. Returning U.S. POWs were unable to provide any information on their fate.

In March 1992, a U.S. investigating team in Vietnam attempting to locate witnesses to the loss of the two-man crew interviewed residents of Cuu Long Province, the new name for Vinh Binh Province. They provided information concerning the downing of an aircraft correlating to the OV-1C involved in this incident. Local villagers stated that the aircraft crashed, and the bodies of the aircraft's two occupants washed up on the shore where they were buried by local residents. Efforts to locate their reported grave sites have not been successful to date.

South Vietnam Walter L. Hall
Bruce G. Johnson
Fred M. Owen
Robert L. Curlee
Donald R. Saegaert
Joseph J. Compa, Jr.
Craig L. Hagen
(0096)

On June 19, 1965, those involved in this loss incident were on board a UH-1B helicopter on a combat operation into a landing zone six kilometers from the town of Dong Xoai, Phuoc Long Province. Their helicopter was hit by ground fire and crashed. Captain Johnson, an advisor to the South Vietnamese Army's 5th Infantry Division, reported to another helicopter in the area that the aircraft's crew and all others on board were dead and his position was receiving incoming enemy mortar fire. There was no further transmission from Captain Johnson after the end of the mortar fire. A later search of the area failed to produce any sign of the seven servicemen.

In late 1965, a Viet Cong produced film was captured which appeared to depict a portion of the battle at Dong Xoai. The film appeared to show the dead bodies of Sergeant First Class Owen and First Lieutenant Hall. Information was later received from another source that the seven U.S. were killed in this incident, four found in the helicopter and three others at the airstrip. Intelligence reports of unidentified U.S. POWs sightings several months before this incident occurred were received later and were placed in the file of these servicemen. One report associated with the capture of an American at the battle of Binh Gia was placed in Captain Johnson's file, but may have correlated to the capture of another Captain several months earlier.

Captain Johnson was initially reported missing. Returning U.S. POWs were unable to provide information about his precise fate or the fate of the others. Captain Johnson was declared dead/body not recovered in February 1978.

South Vietnam Richard C. Bram
John F. Dingwall
(0108)

On July 8, 1966, Staff Sergeant Bram and Gunnery Sergeant Dingwall left their unit at Chu Lai Air Base for a hike in the surrounding countryside. They were last seen in a local hamlet.

Local South Vietnamese police reported on July 8th that the Viet Cong had captured and killed two Americans and then buried their bodies. This report led to a muster of the unit and the discovery that Sergeants Bram and Dingwall were missing. A search of the area in which they were last seen produced hearsay information that the two had been captured, but there was conflicting information on their fate. They were never seen alive again, and their remains were never located.

Both individuals were initially declared missing. In September 1978 they were declared dead/body not recovered. Returning U.S. POWs were unable to provide any information on their survival in captivity, and U.S. investigation teams in Vietnam have been unable to learn anything further concerning their precise fate.

South Vietnam Fred Taylor
Henry J. Gallant
(0109)

On July 13, 1965, Sergeants Taylor and Gallant were members of Detachment B-52, 5th Special Forces Group, with a Vietnamese reconnaissance patrol which encountered a hostile force 18 kilometers northwest of An Khe, Pleiku Province. Surviving patrol members reported last seeing Taylor assisting Gallant to cover as hostile forces pressed toward them. A search of the area after the engagement failed to locate any trace of them. They were both declared missing in action and, in July 1966, were declared dead/body not recovered. Returning U.S. POWs were unable to provide any information on their final fate.

North Vietnam Charles J. Scharf
Martin J. Massucci
(0158)

On October 1, 1965, First Lieutenant Massucci and Captain Scharf were the crew of an F-4C, one in a flight of three aircraft on a strike mission over Son La Province, North Vietnam. Their aircraft was hit by hostile fire. After jettisoning their external tanks, one member of the flight reported seeing one fully deployed chute with the jettisoned material. There was no electronic contact with the crew. Both crewmen were declared missing.

Returning U.S. POWs were unable to provide any information on their precise fate. Lieutenant Massucci was declared dead/body not recovered in February 1978. Captain Scharf was declared dead/body not recovered in January 1978.

In January 1991, U.S. investigators in Vietnam interviewed several witnesses to the crash of a U.S. aircraft which closely corresponded to this loss incident. Several witnesses stated that they observed two bodies at the crash site and had no information that one might have survived the crash. Information from witnesses conflicts with information from U.S. personnel at the time of their loss who reported observing one fully deployed parachute.

South Vietnam Samuel Adams
Charles G. Dusing
Thomas Moore
(0180)

On October 31, 1961, four U.S. Air Force sergeants were traveling by bus from the coastal resort town of Vung Tau toward Saigon. They were stopped by local Viet Cong forces and taken prisoner. On November 2, 1965, the four sergeants attempted to escape from custody, and Staff Sergeant Jasper N. Page was successful. He last saw Sergeant Adams as the Viet Cong were chasing him and shooting at him.

The status of the three was changed from missing in action to prisoners of war. All appeared on the Provisional Revolution Government's died in captivity list provided to the U.S. in January 1973. Their date of death was given as December 1965. The remains of the other three sergeants have never been returned. All were declared dead/body not recovered after the end of hostilities. Returning U.S. POWs were unable to provide any information on their fate.

In March 1992, the Joint Task Force interviewed a witness in Vietnam who described sightings of the four servicemen shortly after their capture at way-station B50. Information was also received that one prisoner escaped and the remaining three prisoners were shot. After burial, their bodies were later exhumed and reburied at a new location which has since been deforested, and the grave site can not be located.

North Vietnam George I. Mims, Jr.
(0213)

On December 20, 1965, First Lieutenant Mims and Captain Robert D. Jeffery were the crewmen of an F-4C in a flight of four F-4 on a combat mission over North Vietnam. While over Ha Bac Province, their aircraft was hit by antiaircraft fire, turned into a fireball and fell apart. Captain Jeffery bailed out, landed safely, was captured and was repatriated during Operation Homecoming. During his post-release interviews, Captain Jeffery stated he never saw or heard anything about Lieutenant Mims from the time he, Jeffery, was captured until he was released;however, based on their loss incident he believed Lieutenant Mims may have been killed after ejecting at a low altitude.

Lieutenant Mims was initially declared missing in action. He was later declared dead/body not recovered.

The Joint Casualty Resolution Center has investigated this incident and determined that Lieutenant Mims's aircraft crashed in Huu Lung District, Lang Son Province, and not Ha Bac Province as initially believed. Witnesses interviewed to date have stated that one crewman was killed in the crash of an aircraft which correlates to this incident. The case is still undergoing field investigation in Vietnam.

South Vietnam James T. Egan
(0235)

On January 21, 1966, Lieutenant Egan was serving as Artillery Forward Observer with a patrol element of the 1st Force Reconnaissance Company. Their patrol was fired upon, and after the skirmish, Lieutenant Egan could not be located. The next day Lance Corporal Edwin R. Grissett, Jr. (Case 0236) was also declared missing when he became separated from the same patrol.

In April 1966, information was received that both Grissett and Egan were captured alive from a South Vietnamese Popular Force soldier who had just escaped from Viet Cong captivity. The soldier asserted that Corporal Grissett told him Lieutenant Egan was wounded and later shot by the Viet Cong. Another report was received from a different source that an American with an individual correlating to Corporal Grissett had been shot and killed.

Corporal Grissett was reclassified as POW during the war, but Lieutenant Egan was not. Neither were accounted-for at the end of Operation Homecoming, after which both were declared dead/body not recovered. Corporal Grissett's remains were repatriated and identified in June 1989.

In August 1990, U.S. field investigators in Vietnam interviewed eight witnesses concerning the capture of the two Marines. The information they provided did not lead to the recovery of any remains of Lieutenant Egan.

Vietnam Cecil J. Hodgson
Frank N. Badolati
Ronald T. Terry
(0242)

On January 28, 1966, Sergeant First Class Hodgson and other patrol members were on a combat patrol in the An Lao Valley, Binh Dinh Province. They encountered a hostile force and evaded. Following the action the three could not be located and were declared missing.

Returning U.S. POWs were unable to provide any information on the three servicemen, and they were not reported alive in the Vietnamese prison system. After Operation Homecoming they were declared dead/body not recovered.

South Vietnam Donald S. Newton
(0258)

On February 26, 1966, Sergeant Newton and Private First Class Wills were members of a long range reconnaissance patrol. They departed their patrol base on a short mission and were never seen again. After their disappearance information was received that two U.S. servicemen had been captured during a firefight. One was killed, and the second, named "Newton," was found wounded and was then captured alive.

Both were declared missing in action. Neither was classified as captured. After Operation Homecoming both were declared dead/body not recovered. Neither of their remains have been repatriated.

In August 1990, U.S. field investigators in Vietnam interviewed witnesses in Vietnam who described the ambush of two Americans. One was shot and killed, his body left behind on a river sandbank. The second was taken prisoner. En route to a higher headquarters, the Viet Cong unit found itself having to move to avoid detection from a U.S. heliborne operation. The American prisoner, believed to possibly correlate with Sergeant Newton, was shot and killed to ensure the unit could move and avoid detection. A grave site of the dead American was identified, but no remains could be located. In March 1991, U.S. field investigators interviewed another witness who provided generally similar information concerning the killing and burial of an American which closely correlated to this incident.

South Vietnam William M. Collins
Delbert R. Peterson
Robert E. Foster
(0267)

On March 9, 1967, Captain Collins, Lieutenant Peterson and Staff Sergeant Foster were part of a six-man crew providing close air support to a Special Forces camp. Their aircraft was hit by hostile ground fire and crash landed to the north of the A Shau Valley in Thua Thien Province. According to survivors, enemy small-arms fire hit and killed Foster and Collins. A-1E aircraft struck the surrounding enemy positions. Lieutenant Peterson was last seen moving into undergrowth. The survivors called out to Lieutenant Peterson but received no response. Special Forces personnel arrived later that day and found the bodies of Sergeant Foster and Captain Collins but were unable to recover them due to enemy activity. They could not locate Lieutenant Peterson.

Lieutenant Peterson was declared missing. Returning U.S. POWs had no information on his fate. He was declared dead/body not recovered in February 1978.

North Vietnam William R. Tromp
(0304)

On April 17, 1966, Lieutenant JG Tromp was the pilot of an A-1E from the U.S.S. Kitty Hawk on a night armed reconnaissance mission over the coastal area of southern North Vietnam. A surface-to-air missile was launched at their flight of two aircraft while over Ha Tinh Province. Tromp's aircraft was last reported crossing the coastline heading out to sea and descending in altitude. His last transmission was, "I have some kind of energ...," ending in mid-sentence. An air and sea search proved negative. He was declared missing in action. Radio Hanoi later announced the shoot down of several aircraft on April 17th and stated that several pilots were captured in Quang Binh and Ha Tinh Provinces. Tromp's aircraft was the only one lost that day.

July through September 1973, Lieutenant Tromp's under water crash site was searched by U.S. forces testing the recoverability of remains of U.S. airmen lost on over water losses. No remains could be located at his crash site. In July 1974, he was declared dead, remains unrecoverable.

On December 8, 1988, U.S. investigators in Vietnam met with witnesses from the area Lieutenant Tromp had been last seen crossing the coast. They described the shoot down of one of two aircraft which corresponded to the circumstances of Tromp's loss. They stated that the aircraft crashed in the sea off the coast, there was no visible wreckage and no indication anyone had survived.

In July 1989, U.S. investigators received additional hearsay information about the same shoot down associated with Cam Xuyen District, Ha Tinh Province. A refugee source in Hong Kong reported that an aircraft had been hit by groundfire as it was descending in altitude and that it soon burst into flames. The underwater crash site was reportedly surveyed by Vietnamese salvage officials in 1987, but the wreck was not salvaged.

South Vietnam Jimmy M. Malone
(0326)

On May 4, 1966, Private Malone was serving as a radio operator with his unit in Tan Uyen District, Bien Hoa Province. His unit, participating in Operation Hastings, had just completed its combat assault and was establishing its position with Private Malone's platoon on the unit's perimeter.

Private Malone was detailed to pick up mail from his weapons platoon. He departed his position along a trail outside of the perimeter but never returned. A search of the area located jungle-boot prints believed to have been made by Private Malone. The impression of the search party was that Private Malone had taken the trail but had made a wrong turn away from his unit's perimeter. The boot prints were later joined by sandal prints, and they both led to a fortified Viet Cong position. His squad came under hostile sniper fire during their search. The next day another platoon swept the area and located still more foot prints approximately 1500 meters away, but there was no trace of Private Malone.

Private Malone was declared missing in action. Returning U.S. POWs had no information about him. After Operation Homecoming he was declared killed in action/body not recovered based on a presumptive finding of death.

In June 1984, the Joint Casualty Resolution Center received a report about the recovery of remains in Tan Uyen District, now a part of Song Be Province. The remains and a dog-tag were reportedly turned over to local authorities. This report was placed in Private Malone's file due to the coincidence in loss location.

On March 12, 1992, a joint U.S./Vietnamese investigation in Thu Dau Mot District, Song Be Province, led to an interview with a former Political Officer from the 4th Artillery Company, 3rd Battalion, Dong Nai Regiment. The officer stated that a reconnaissance element from his unit had killed an American in the area where Private Malone disappeared and that he had recovered one web belt and a .45 caliber sidearm. The soldier was part of an American force which had just come to operate in the area. The body was buried along a trail near a stream in the area. A helicopter later appeared and broadcast an appeal for information about a missing serviceman. U.S. investigator's tended to discredit the account they were offered.

South Vietnam Bennie Lee Dexter
(0333)

On May 9, 1966, Airman Second Class Dexter departed Pleiku City for Banmethuot City by jeep. He never arrived at his destination, and an ensuing search turned up his jeep on May 11, 1966. Local civilians reported he had been stopped and taken prisoner. There were wartime reports about an American POW in captivity whose circumstances of capture were similar to that of Airman Dexter. One report asserted that he died of starvation in February 1967.

Airman Dexter was carried in a POW status at the end of Operation Homecoming. He was later declared dead/body not recovered. Returning U.S. POWs were unable to confirm his fate.

Joint Casualty Resolution Center field investigations in Vietnam during April 1989 led to the interview of witnesses who described Dexter's capture and imprisonment near Banmethuot. The same witnesses stated that he was shot and killed during an escape attempt and that his remains were buried nearby. U.S. investigators were unable to locate any evidence of his grave or remains.

South Vietnam Louis Buckley, Jr.
(0344)

On May 21, 1966, Sergeant Buckley, a member of the Motor Platoon of the 12th Cavalry, was with his unit in Binh Duong Province. His unit came under enemy attack at Landing Zone Hereford and was forced to withdraw. Sergeant Buckley was last seen in the area with blood on his shirt and arm. Friendly reinforcements arrived, but Sergeant Buckley could not be located.

He was initially declared missing in action. Returning U.S. POWs were unable to provide any information on his fate. In January 1978, he was declared dead/body not recovered.

In October 1981, U.S. intelligence received information from a Vietnamese refugee concerning the death of an American soldier in the area Sergeant Buckley disappeared. It could not be specifically correlated to Buckley.

South Vietnam William Ellis, Jr.
(0372)

On June 24, 1966, Ellis was declared missing while on a combat operation in Kontum Province. After the end of hostilities he was declared dead/body not recovered.

In December 1990, a U.S. field team in Vietnam reported the results of their recent field trip into the Central Highlands of South Vietnam. During their visit, they interviewed a doctor who saw several American POWs during 1967 or 1968 in western Kontum Province. The doctor was aware that one African-American had died at his hospital and that a dead American's body was preserved for use as a medical training aid.

The doctor also stated that three Caucasian Americans died there, and he believed they were buried nearby. These reports were tentatively correlated to Schiele (Case 1112), Van Bendegom (0762) and a then unidentified third Caucasian American. The report about the African-American appeared to correlate to Ellis (0372). Other information, possibly concerning Schiele, traced his movements from the area of his capture to his turnover, then to the 62nd Regiment and later to B-3 Front Headquarters.

South Vietnam Robert H. Gage
(0381)

On July 3, 1966, Lance Corporal Gage and another Marine from the 1st Division left their platoon's position to find someone to do their laundry and entered Thanh Thuy Village, which is 15 kilometers south-southeast of Da Nang City, Quang Nam Province. When last seen, Corporal Gage was engaged in conversation with a woman. He never returned to his platoon's position and was declared missing. Friendly forces detained local village women on July 3rd and 4th but were unable to obtain information on Corporal Gage's fate. On July 5, 1966, the Marines learned that the Corporal had actually entered a Viet Cong controlled hamlet.

Returning U.S. POWs had no information on Corporal Gage's fate. In August 1974, he was declared killed in action/body not recovered

based on a presumptive finding of death.

North Vietnam Roosevelt Hestle, Jr.
Charles E. Morgan
(0386)

On July 6, 1966, Major Hestle and Captain Morgan were crewmen in an F-105 in a flight of four aircraft over Bac Thai Province. Major Hestle's aircraft was hit by hostile ground fire and crashed approximately 15 kilometers southwest of Thai Nguyen. Other aircraft on the scene neither saw chutes nor heard beepers.

Wartime intelligence information from a People's Army prisoner describing the capture of an African-American from an aircraft shot down over Tam Dao Mountain was tentatively correlated to the capture of one crewman from this crew.

Both individuals were initially reported missing in action and were later changed to dead/bodies not recovered. In November 1970, U.S. military intelligence received information that Major Hestle and two other U.S. POWs were alive at a POW camp near Vinh. DIA believed this report was not true but was the product of a highly publicized visit by three POW wives to Vietnam early in 1970. Returning U.S. POWs reported hearsay information that Major Hestle was seen alive on a stretcher in a prison in Hanoi. He was not reported alive as of 1973.

U.S. investigators in Vietnam in January 1989 located a possible crash site associated with this incident and received hearsay information one pilot was buried at that site. Captain Morgan's remains were repatriated in July 1989. Vietnam turned over the identity card of Major Hestle in October 1982, but his remains have not been recovered.

South Vietnam Robert L. Babula
Dennis R. Carter
Robert C. Borton
John L. Bodenschatz
(0439)

On August 28, 1966, the four PFCs were members of the 1st Marine Division and were with a fire team at an ambush site ten kilometers southwest of Da Nang City, Quang Nam Province. They failed to return from their mission and were declared missing. On September 4, 1968, Bodenschatz' dog-tags and a partial wrist watch were located. Local residents did not provide any information about the fate of the four men.

Returning U.S. POWs were unable to provide any information about their fate. They were declared dead/body not recovered based on a presumptive finding of death in November 1974.

South Vietnam Lawrence B. Tatum
(0453)

On September 10, 1966, Tatum was the pilot of an A-1E which was hit by hostile antiaircraft fire and crashed eight kilometers north of the Rao Thanh River currently in Trung Luong District, Quang Tri Province. A forward air controller did not observe Tatum bail out but did hear an emergency beeper for approximately one minute. He later observed a presumable parachute slack in the trees on a hillside. He never saw Tatum safely on the ground. He observed hostile forces approach the parachute and evidently pull it out of the tree.

Tatum was initially declared missing. After Operation Homecoming he was declared dead/body not recovered.

In April 1990 a U.S. team in Vietnam located a crash site with material consistent with that of an A-1E, but no personal artifacts were found. Local witnesses were unable to provide any information. A U.S. team located information in the records of People's Army Military Region 4 indicating that a U.S. pilot died in a crash on the date. The place and time correlated to Tatum's loss incident, but the pilot's name was not available.

North Vietnam John L. Robertson
(0459)

On September 16, 1966, Major Robertson and First Lieutenant Hubert F. Buchanan were in one in a flight of four F-4C aircraft on a mission over North Vietnam. They were engaged by hostile MIG aircraft while en route to their target. Major Robertson's aircraft was last seen in an aerial engagement with a MIG by other aircraft in their flight.

First Lieutenant Buchanan was captured alive and released in March 1973. During his post-release debriefing he described how their aircraft was attacked by a MIG-17 and that he was forced to eject. He did not have contact with Major Robertson during, or after, his ejection. Other U.S. POWs reported being questioned about Major Robertson on September 17th and having been told Major Robertson was dead.

Major Robertson was in MIA status as of Operation Homecoming. In June 1978, he was declared dead/body not recovered based on a presumptive finding of death.

In January 1987, U.S. intelligence received a report about the wartime crash of an F-4 aircraft which appeared to correlate to this incident. One crewman was reportedly captured, and one died in the crash. From February through April 1990, U.S. field investigators in Vietnam visited Hai Hung Province and interviewed witnesses who described an aerial encounter between a U.S. jet and a MIG aircraft. One crewman ejected and was captured. The team visited the crash site and determined the aircraft's wreckage had been dug up and removed to a nearby warehouse. The team was provided a small packet of remains, allegedly from the crash site, which were determined to be non-human. Also during April 1990, Vietnam repatriated remains it identified as Major Robertson which were later determined to be the skeletal remains of a large animal (possibly a horse or cow) and a piece of non-bone material, possibly a rock.

During November and December 1991, the site was excavated and personal property of an individual, probably American, was recovered and sent for analysis. Parts of the aircraft were recovered, including a data plate, as well as possible bone material. This case continues to undergo investigation.

South Vietnam Daniel L. Niehouse
(0529)

On November 25, 1966, Mr. Niehouse, a salesman for Ford Motor Company, was driving between Saigon and Dalat when he was stopped and detained by Vietnamese communist forces 20 kilometers north of the town of Xuan Loc. Three foreign civilians released from captivity on January 1, 1967 (Thomas R. Scales, Robert W. Monahan, Mrs. Ofelia T. Gaza) last knew Mr. Niehouse to be alive in captivity with them. Prior to their release, Mrs. Gaza's husband and an Australian civilian died in captivity.

Mr. Niehouse was reported missing and then captured. He was identified by the Provisional Revolutionary Government at Operation Homecoming as having died in captivity on April 12, 1967. His remains have not yet been repatriated. Other returning POWs were unable to provide information on his eventual fate.

South Vietnam Burt C. Small
(0607)

On March 6, 1967, Specialist Small was assigned to Quang Ngai Province from the 5th Special Forces Group as a member of Advisory Detachment 108. A South Vietnamese irregular force unit (CIDG) was ambushed, and, after the skirmish, Small was missing. A CIDG soldier later escaped and reported that Specialist Small had been captured alive.

His status was changed from missing in action to POW. After Operation Homecoming he was declared dead/body not recovered. His remains have never been repatriated and other returning U.S. POWs were unable to confirm that he was alive in any of the Vietnamese prisons in South or North Vietnam.

The Joint Casualty Resolution Center conducted field investigations in the area of Specialist Small's capture. They received information that Specialist Small had been captured alive and was wounded at the time of his capture. All members of the capturing unit are reportedly deceased.

North Vietnam John S. Hamilton
(0644)

On April 19, 1967, Major Hamilton was the pilot of an A-1E, one in a flight of two aircraft searching for two pilots downed over North Vietnam. While over Hoa Binh Province, Hamilton was attacked by four hostile MIG-17 aircraft, and his wingman observed pieces of his aircraft's outer wing fly off after it was hit by cannon fire. His aircraft crashed 24 kilometers southeast of Hoa Binh City. Major Hamilton was not seen ejecting from his aircraft and there was no electronic beeper heard. He was declared missing in action.

On April 19th, that same day, Hanoi radio reported the shoot down of an American rescue aircraft over Hoa Binh Province. This report, while not mentioning the fate of the pilot, was believed to correlate to Major Hamilton's incident of loss.

In September 1970, a People's Army of Vietnam soldier reported two caucasian pilots captured in Lac Thuy District in April 1968 after being shot down in aerial combat with MIG jet aircraft. The soldier identified a photograph of Major Hamilton as similar to one of those captured, and the report was placed in Major Hamilton's file as possibly relating to his capture. After Operation Homecoming, a reevaluation of this report led to a reversal of the wartime evaluation. It was determined that this incident actually correlated to Major Thomas Madison and Major Thomas Sterling who had been lost as described and who returned alive during Operation Homecoming.

Returning U.S. POWs had no information on Hamilton's precise fate. In March 1979, he was declared killed in action/body not recovered based on a presumptive finding of death.

In January 1991, a report was received about a grave with the remains of a U.S. pilot in the area where Major Hamilton was lost. Then, in May 1991, a source provided the rubbing of a dog-tag associated with Major Hamilton and a bone fragment and claimed that remains were recovered from an area near Vinh City, Nghe Tinh Province. This is a considerable distance away from his known crash site. In October 1991, another source visited the Joint Task Force office in Hanoi and turned over a bone fragment and identifying information about Major Hamilton. The source claimed his friend found Major Hamilton's remains at another location, this time in Quang Binh Province.

South Vietnam Thomas A. Mangino
Paul A. Hasenbeck
David M. Winters
Daniel R. Nidds
(0646)

On April 21, 1967, Special Fourth Class Mangino and PFCs Hasenbeck, Winters, and Nidds, members of the 196th Light Infantry Brigade, were returning from a combat patrol. They had borrowed a sampan from local residents to make the return trip to a landing site near their unit in Binh Son District, Quang Ngai Province. A second sampan, the lead boat, reached the dock but was then out of sight of the other sampan following with only the four servicemen on board. Shortly thereafter came the sound of a burst of weapons firing. Twenty minutes later, the four patrol members had still not reached the dock, and a search party was sent to locate them.

Based on available information, the four men were last seen talking with several Vietnamese in another sampan. Later reports were received that four Americans had been captured by local Viet Cong forces on April 21st. Other reports were received that unidentified Americans were teaching English to Viet Cong female cadre and that Americans had been buried in the area. These reports were placed in the individuals' files as possibly pertaining to them.

In May 1991, a U.S. team was advised by a Vietnamese official that PFC Winters was dead. In August 1992, a joint U.S./Vietnamese team in the area of this incident interviewed witnesses with first hand or hearsay knowledge of it. The sources stated the four men were ambushed, and their bodies were thrown into the river to keep them from being observed by search and rescue helicopters. The bodies were later buried in three separate locations in an area which today is under the Song Tra River. In November 1992, Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs Chairman John Kerry received a wartime diary, describing the capture and subsequent death of the four U.S. servicemen, from People's Army of Vietnam Central Military Museum Director, Senior Colonel Dai. Senior Colonel Dai's diary appears to contain information correlating to this incident in which the four servicemen are recorded as having died. This case is still under active investigation by Joint Task Force-Full Accounting.

Returning U.S. POWs had no information on their fate. They were initially declared missing. Each was declared dead/body not recovered on separate dates between 1973 and 1978.

South Vietnam Roger D. Hamilton
(0647)

On April 21, 1967, Lance Corporal Hamilton, a member of the 1st Marine Division, was with his unit in Quang Tin Province when it began receiving heavy enemy fire and was forced to withdraw. Corporal Hamilton was last known wounded and was left behind during the unit's quick retreat. A search operation in the area through April 22nd failed to locate him. He was declared missing.

In August 1967, U.S. intelligence received information from two Vietnam People's Army prisoners that a U.S. Marine had been captured in April 1967 in circumstances similar to that of the loss of Corporal Hamilton. They were unable to provide any specific information on his eventual fate.

Returning U.S. POWs were unable to provide any information on the fate of Corporal Hamilton. After Operation Homecoming he was declared dead/body not recovered.

In August 1989, U.S. field investigators in Vietnam interviewed witnesses concerning the fate of Corporal Hamilton, but the U.S. investigators only received vague statements. Additional investigation in January 1991 led U.S. investigators to his reported burial site. They recovered one partial set of remains at one location and small bone fragments at a second site nearby. The reports were vague about whom the remains were associated, and it was not possible to correlate the remains to this incident.

North Vietnam Michael J. Estocin
(0656)

On April 26, 1967, Lieutenant Commander Estocin was the pilot of an A-4E on a SAM suppression mission over North Vietnam. His aircraft was hit by a surface-to-air missile and went out of control, but he later regained control of it. Defense Department records state he was last seen entering overcast at 3,500 feet and crashed into coastal waters off Cat Ba Island. A search and rescue effort was suspended April 27, 1967. On that date, Radio Hanoi broadcast a reference to a shoot down and capture of a U.S. pilot possibly correlating to Commander Estocin's shoot down.

On April 29th, a People's Army newspaper article referred to the shoot down of an aircraft and a rescue helicopter coming to rescue the downed pilot. This report was placed in Commander Estocin's file as a possible correlation.

Commander Estocin was initially declared missing. His casualty status was later changed to POW based on sensitive source information. He was not reported alive during Operation Homecoming, and, in November 1977, he was declared dead/body not recovered.

A returning U.S. POW reported that another U.S. POW, whom he met in prison in North Vietnam, relayed a discussion he had had with Mrs. Estocin prior to his own shoot down. Allegedly, the U.S. POW, Commander Stratton, had written that Commander Estocin was alive and a POW. In January 1974, the Defense Department confirmed that Commander Estocin had been misidentified as a POW in sensitive source material.

In July 1990, U.S. intelligence received information from a northern Vietnamese refugee about an aircraft shoot down which occurred in 1967 near Cat Ba Island. Remains were reportedly found in the water near the crash site. Also, skeletal remains were reportedly seized by Vietnamese officials from a refugee boat captured near Cat Ba Island in February 1989. In March 1991, U.S. investigators in Vietnam visited Cat Ba Island but were unable to develop any information regarding this loss incident. They were told by Vietnamese officials that Commander Estocin was believed to have drowned twenty nautical miles off Cat Ba Island. Other reports were received of a body washing up along the shore to the north of Cat Ba Island.

Commander John B. Nichols, retired, recently wrote of his own wartime combat experiences, published by the Naval Institute Press, entitled On Yankee Station. Commander Nichols was on the scene when Commander Estocin was hit and crashed. Commander Nichols described seeing Commander Estocin's aircraft invert, his tank blow off and his missiles fire. He followed him to the ocean and saw him impact, still inverted, but did not see a parachute come from the aircraft.

North Vietnam Roger M. Netherland
(0667)

On May 10, 1967, Commander Netherland was launched in an A-4C from the U.S.S. Hancock as the leader of a flight of aircraft on a mission against Kien An Airfield near the port city of Hai Phong. Three surface-to-air missiles were launched at his flight, and the third missile exploded below his aircraft. His wingman reported observing him drop his external tanks and begin a left turn streaming fuel. His aircraft then did an inverted roll and crashed. There was no ejection seen. A search for sign of him was negative. He was initially declared missing in action. After the end of hostilities he was declared dead/body not recovered. Returning U.S. POWs were unable to provide any information that he was alive in the northern Vietnamese prison system.

In December 1982, a Vietnamese refugee reported the downing of a U.S. aircraft and described the recovery and burial of remains from the crash site. The incident appeared to correlate to that of Commander Netherland.

In September 1989, Vietnam returned the alleged remains of Commander Netherland together with his identity card and wallet. Forensic examination of the remains concluded they belonged to an adult male but a board decided that they could neither rule out nor recommend identification of the remains.

A U.S. team in Vietnam during July 1990 conducted a survey of the crash site associated with Commander Netherland. The site location and information concerning the circumstances of the crash were consistent with the known facts surrounding Commander Netherland's loss. A return to the site in December 1991 resulted in witness interviews who provided their knowledge of the crash, including a description of human remains located in a position consistent with the results of a high angle high speed dive into the ground.

South Vietnam Carlos Ashlock
(0678)

On May 12, 1967, Corporal Ashlock and Lance Corporal Jose Agosto-Santos, members of the 5th Marine Regiment, were with their unit on an operation in Quang Nam Province. Their unit encountered two reinforced battalions of the Vietnam People's Army and withdrew. After the withdrawal, neither Ashlock nor Agosto-Santos could be located. Soon afterward, one unit member reported seeing People's Army troops carrying away Agosto-Santos. A report was also received from a local Vietnamese official that two wounded U.S. Marines had been seen in the custody of the Vietnam People's Army. This report was viewed as possibly correlating to Ashlock and Agosto-Santos. In June 1967, a former Viet Cong doctor at Hospital B-25 reported Ashlock was alive and had been treated at his hospital. He was last seen alive in July 1967. Both individuals were initially declared missing in action.

Corporal Agosto-Santos returned alive at Operation Homecoming. Neither he nor other returning POWs were able to provide any information on the fate of Corporal Ashlock. Corporal Ashlock was declared dead/body not recovered, in July 1976.

In March 1991, Vietnam repatriated remains identified as those of Carlos Ashlock. U.S. examination of those remains resulted in a determination that neither the remains identified by Vietnam as those of Corporal Ashlock nor any other remains turned over in March 1991 could be associated with Corporal Ashlock.

Recent field investigations in Vietnam have located witnesses who provided information concerning the capture of Corporal Ashlock. Witnesses reported burial sites, but they could not be positively confirmed, and no remains were recovered. The information these witnesses provided does not increase the knowledge already known that Corporal Ashlock was last known alive and in captivity.

Cambodia Joe L. Delong
(0689)

On May 18, 1967, Private First Class Delong was a machine gunner from the 1st Battalion, 8th Infantry, in Phu Pah District, Pleiku Province, South Vietnam. His unit's position, approximately 14 kilometers northwest of the village of Duc Co, was attacked and overrun by hostile forces. PFC Delong was missing after the unit reformed.

On May 20, 1967, a Viet Cong prisoner described an American in captivity who correlated to PFC Delong. Delong was listed as a POW at the time of Operation Homecoming.

In June 1967, a People's Army of Vietnam publication from the B-3 Theater of Operation, entitled Tay Nguyen, reported that the K4 Battalion had captured a U.S. POW, and this unit was transferred to regimental level. This was believed to refer to the capture of PFC Delong, and the regiment to which it referred was believed to be the 320th Regiment.

PFC Delong was listed by the Provisional Revolutionary Government as having died in captivity. His date of death was given as November 1967.

\U.S. POWs repatriated during Operation Homecoming stated PFC Delong and two other U.S. POWs escaped from a B-3 Theater level POW camp on November 6, 1967, while they were being detained in Ratanakiri Province, Cambodia, approximately two kilometers from the border with Vietnam and an estimated 70 kilometers west of Kontum, South Vietnam. Several days later, the remaining POWs were shown PFC Delong's trousers by their prison camp commander and were told that Delong had been killed resisting capture. The two other U.S. POWs were recaptured.

South Vietnam Walter F. Wrobleski
(0703)

On May 21, 1967, Wrobleski was the pilot of a UH-1C helicopter, one in a flight of seven helicopters on an extraction mission into the A Shau Valley, Thua Thien Province. On board with him were Warrant Officer Corkran, Specialist Fourth Class Hall and Private First Class Szwed. While making a strafing run, their helicopter was hit by heavy machine gun fire which knocked out their engine. After being hit by another burst of fire, their helicopter went out of control and crashed, rolling down into a small ravine. Several minutes later a red ground panel was seen. Ten minutes later the helicopter exploded. A white ground panel was also seen three hours later.

PFC Szwed was rescued alive. WO Corkran and Specialist Hall were also located alive, and a line was dropped to them on the ground. While being lifted to the helicopter, it began to receive heavy enemy fire, and it lifted off, dragging Warrant Officer Corkran and Specialist Hall into trees which knocked them off the ladder to the jungle below. South Vietnamese Army forces recovered the body of Specialist Hall on May 22 and, on May 23rd, the body of Warrant Officer Corkran. All survivors stated Wrobleski was never seen alive after the crash.

During the war years, a former member of the People's Army of Vietnam stated he saw an American with a South Vietnamese Army POW being escorted north along the Ho Chi Minh Trail in May 1967. This report was placed in Wrobleski's file as a possible correlation to his case.

Wrobleski was initially declared missing. In February 1978, he was declared dead/body not recovered based on a presumptive finding of death. Returning U.S. POWs were unable to provide any information on his eventual fate.

In January 1991, U.S. investigators in Vietnam interviewed two witnesses to the crash of a helicopter correlating closely to this loss incident. They reported observing a body at the crash site, and other soldiers, possibly from nearby commo-liaison station T52, retrieved a watch from the dead serviceman. The team was taken to the crash site but was unable to locate any human remains or other artifacts.

North Vietnam Kenneth F. Backus
Elton L. Perrine
(0706)

On May 22, 1967, Captain Perrine and First Lieutenant Backus were the crew of an F-4C, one of two aircraft in a flight against the Kep railroad yard. The second aircraft observed Captain Perrine's aircraft make a bomb run on the target and, five seconds later, observed a large explosion three miles east of the target in Lang Son Province. There were no chute and no beacon signals. There was 37mm and 57mm anti-aircraft fire in the area. However, the other aircrew could not confirm that Captain Perrine's aircraft was hit by hostile fire, and they could not pinpoint the crash site's precise location.

On May 24th, the New China News Agency reported the downing of a U.S. aircraft over Lang Son Province on May 22nd and stated that the pilots were captured. This aircraft was the only aircraft lost in the area on that date. Both crewmen were initially reported missing in action.

Returning U.S. POWs were unable to provide any information on the crew's fate. In February 1979, each was declared dead/body not recovered based on a presumptive finding of death.

South Vietnam Brian K. McGar
Joseph E. Fitzgerald
John E. Jakovac
(0715)

On May 30, 1967, Sergeant Jakovac and PFCs McGar and Fitzgerald were members of a five man reconnaissance patrol in Quang Ngai Province. The team was deployed to counter hostile fire from a nearby hedgerow and to set up an observation point on a hill top. They failed to make a nightly radio check an hour and fifteen minutes after climbing the hill. A search and rescue effort located two other patrol members, both dead, in a shallow grave in the area. There was a trail of blood leading from the area, hand grenade fragmentations and U.S. and foreign shell casings which gave evidence to an engagement. The search effort continued for three days but failed to locate the other three missing patrol members.

Following their disappearance, U.S. intelligence received several reports about grave sites in the area. In July 1972, a former Viet Cong stated that he had seen two U.S. prisoners in Quang Tin Province in July 1967, and this report was placed in the files of these MIAs, although there was no specific correlation to them.

All three Marines were declared dead/body not recovered on different dates during 1975 and 1976. None of the three was reported alive in the Vietnamese prison system by returning U.S. POWs.

South Vietnam Di Reyes Ibanez
(0723)

On June 5, 1967, Sergeant Ibanez was a member of a 3rd Marine Division reconnaissance patrol in Quang Tri Province. Shortly after midnight, a guard heard a moan and the sound of brush breaking from the area where Sergeant Ibanez was sleeping. A later search party recovered his rifle and pack. In the morning a patrol located a partial dental plate and blood trail. The blood trail led along a path from his last known location to a nearby village.

A search of the area turned up freshly dug foxholes with evidence of recent occupancy and signs that something had been dragged along the trail. The partial plate was described by the unit's dental surgeon as identical to the teeth artificially replaced. Sergeant Ibanez was never found.

Sergeant Ibanez was initially declared missing. In March 1978, he was declared dead/body not recovered. He was not reported alive in the Vietnamese prison system by returning U.S. POWs.

South Vietnam Robert L. Platt, Jr.
(0728)

On June 10, 1967, Private First Class Platt was a member of a 101st Airborne Division patrol ambushed while on a search and destroy mission in South Vietnam. Platt, reportedly wounded several times, was left behind during his unit's withdrawal. He was declared missing.

In 1968, U.S. intelligence received a captured Viet Cong document apparently belonging to the 270th Transportation Regiment of Military Region 5, a unit operating in the area Private First Class Platt was last seen. It noted that an American Private First Class had been captured on June 10, 1967 and that he died of his wounds on June 11, 1967. This was viewed by U.S. intelligence as possible a correlation to PFC Platt. A Viet Cong prisoner interrogated shortly thereafter described seeing an American prisoner being brought to his medical unit which was destroyed in a U.S. bombing. The prisoner did not know if the American was killed or survived, and this report was also thought to possibly pertain to Platt.

In March 1978, Private First Class Platt was declared dead/body not recovered. Returning U.S. POWs were unable to provide any information on his fate.

In January 1991, U.S. investigators in Vietnam interviewed potential witnesses who were thought to be able to provide information about Platt. No new information on his precise fate was learned.

South Vietnam James Lee Van Bendegom
(0762)

On July 12, 1967, Private First Class Van Bendegom and other members of his 4th Infantry Division were on patrol when they engaged a hostile force in the Ia Drang Valley, Pleiku Province. PFC Van Bendegom was wounded and treated by a medic. He was left behind when his unit's position was overrun, and he was captured.

According to other U.S. POWs released during Operation Homecoming, it was rumored that PFC Van Bendegom was taken from Pleiku Province into Cambodia and was treated at a field hospital. His name did not appear on the PRG died in captivity list. He was declared dead/body not recovered in May 1973.

In April 1989, a U.S. field team in Vietnam interviewed former officers assigned to the B-3 Front, the People's Army of Vietnam theater headquarters in command of operations in Pleiku Province. They were unable to provide any information on PFC Van Bendegom. During 1992, U.S. investigators in Vietnam received information describing the death of three Americans in captivity. One deat was correlated to PFC Van Bendegom.

North Vietnam Ronald N. Sittner
(0804)
Charles Lane, Jr.
(0805)

On August 23, 1967, First Lieutenant Lane and his aircraft commander, Captain Larry E. Corrigan (Case 0805), were the crewmen of an F-4 aircraft on a strike mission against the Yen Vien railroad yard. Their aircraft was hit by an air-to-air missile fired by a MIG-21 making it one of two aircraft in their flight downed by MIG-21 missiles. Their aircraft was believed to have crashed in Thai Nguyen Province, North Vietnam. Captain Corrigan was captured alive and was repatriated during Operation Homecoming. Other members of their flight reported seeing three parachutes from the crewmen of the two downed aircraft. Three clear beepers were heard as well as one weak beeper which was believed to be associated with Lieutenant Lane. Captain Corrigan was the only individual shot down who was able to establish voice contact with those overhead.

Upon his release, Captain Corrigan reported seeing another individual moving around in his parachute, and he believed that individual to be Lieutenant Lane. Ha Noi press reported the aircraft downing but did not specify the number of crewmen captured. In August 1968, U.S. intelligence believed Lieutenant Lane had been captured alive and that he was in enemy custody, although his casualty status remained as missing in action.

The other aircraft's crew included Major Charles R. Tyler and Captain Ronald N. Sittner (0804). Major Tyler landed and was taken prisoner. He, too, was released alive during Operation Homecoming.

In October 1973, Lieutenant Lane's case was reviewed by the Department of Defense at the request of his next of kin, and his casualty status was changed to dead/body not recovered. Captain Sittner's case was reviewed at a later date, and he was also determined to be dead/body not recovered. Returning U.S. POWs were unable to confirm either individual alive in captivity in the northern Vietnamese prison system.

In November 1991, the Joint Task Force interviewed witnesses to the downing of the two F-4 aircraft and the reported sighting of either 3 or 4 parachutes. The location of their downing was determined to be in Tuyen Quang Province, not in Thai Nguyen Province. Witnesses reported the capture of two airmen and stated that they were unable to locate the other two crewmen until 1970 when the partial remains of one of the two was located. Local witnesses also stated that a nearby People's Republic of China military unit arrived at one of the crash sites and recovered the wreckage of one of the downed aircraft. They provided no other details about the incident. The Joint Task Force concluded that the reported partial remains may have correlated to the remains of Lieutenant Lane, who was not confirmed to have ejected from his aircraft but could have done so. In April 1992, a U.S. team interviewed additional witnesses and recovered personal artifacts from both grave sites that did not correlate to the two airmen.

South Vietnam Kenneth L. Plumadore
(0839)

On September 21, 1967, Lance Corporal Plumadore, a member of the 4th Marine Division, was wounded in action while engaging People's Army of Vietnam forces during Operation Kingfisher in the area of Dong Ha, Quang Tri Province. He and fourteen other members of his unit were left behind in the withdrawal from the battle area. When friendly forces retook the area they located fourteen dead Marines, two of bodies there were difficult to identity. Information later surfaced that one survivor was reported captured and was last seen being escorted North. Corporal Plumadore was declared dead/body not recovered in September 1967.

In April 1986, Vietnam returned remains of someone captured in the same engagement as the one during in which Corporal Plumadore became unaccounted-for. Information provided with the remains was that the remains belonged to an American serviceman captured at Con Thien who had died on September 27, 1967 at Vinh Linh, North Vietnam. Corporal Plumadore's records could not be used in remains identification because they were lost in an aircraft crash on October 2, 1967.

Subsequent to the return of the remains, U.S. intelligence located archival intelligence information, usually highly reliable, that indicated for the first time that someone, probably Plumadore, had been captured and taken North to Vinh Linh. He was last known alive on September 23rd in the area of Con Thien. He was the only individual who remained missing in the Con Thien area.