Rank/Branch: O2/US Air Force
Unit: 497th Tactical Fighter Squadron, Ubon AF TH
Date of Birth: 17 May 1943
Home City of Record: Ft. Walton Beach FL
Date of Loss: 24 July 1968
Country of Loss: North Vietnam - Over Water
Loss Coordinates: 174400N 1064400E (XE747760)
Status (in 1973): Missing In Action
Other Personnel In Incident: Harley B. Hackett
(missing)
Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 31
April 1990 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 1998.
REMARKS:
SYNOPSIS: Capt. Harley B. Hackett III and 1Lt.
John R. Bush were pilots assigned to the 497th
Tactical Fighter Squadron at Ubon Airfield,
Thailand. On July 24, 1968, they comprised the
crew of an F4D Phantom fighter jet sent on an
armed reconnaissance mission over North Vietnam.
Hackett was the pilot of the aircraft and Bush
was his backseater. Their aircraft was number two
in a flight of two.
During the mission, the lead aircraft was struck
by enemy fire, and Hackett vectored the lead
aircraft over water where the crew of the lead
aircraft ejected and were recovered. The crew of
a naval aircraft in the vicinity saw a second
aircraft crash which was believed to be the
number two aircraft (with Hackett and Bush
onboard).
The incident was off the coast of North Vietnam
in the Gulf of Tonkin, about 20 miles east of the
city of Ba Don. The two were declared Missing In
Action, and it was felt that there was a good
chance that the enemy forces knew their fate. No
parachutes were seen ejecting the aircraft and no
emergency radio beeper signals were heard. Still,
there was the possibility that the crew ejected
safely.
Nearly 2500 Americans were lost in Southeast Asia
during our military involvement there. Since the
war in Southeast Asia ended in 1973, thousands of
reports of Americans still in captivity have been
received by the U.S. Government. The official
policy is that no conclusive proof has been
obtained that is current enough to act upon.
Detractors of this policy say conclusive proof is
in hand, but that the willingness or ability to
rescue these prisoners does not exist.
John Bush and Harley Hackett, if among the
hundreds said to be still alive and in captivity,
must be wondering, "Where ARE you, America?"
Where are we, America, when the life of even one
American is not worth the effort of recovery?
When the next war comes, and it is our sons lost,
will we then care enough to do everything we can
to bring our prisoners home?
Harley B. Hackett III graduated from the U.S.
Air Force Academy in 1965. John R. Bush graduated
from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1966.
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