RODNEY HERSCHEL GOTT
Remains Returned (see text)
Rank/Branch: E5/US Air Force
Unit: 6994th Security Squadron
Date of Birth: 03 May 1947
Home City of Record: Miami FL
Date of Loss: 05 February 1969
Loss Coordinates: 152600N 1064700E (approx)
Status (in 1973): Killed In Action
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: EC47
Refno: KIA1
Other Personnel in Incident: Hugh L. Sherburn;
Robert E. Olson; Louis J. Clever; Harry T. Niggle;
Clarence L. McNeill; Homer M. Lynn; Walter F.
Burke; James V. Dorsey Jr.; Wilton N. Hatton
(all reported KIA)
Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 01
September 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: ** NOT ON MISSING LISTS **
SYNOPSIS: The Douglas C47 was designed as a
transport, gunship, and electronic or regular
reconnaissance aircraft, depending on the
configuration. The aircraft served in World War II
and served French forces in Indochina in the
1950's, and returned to Vietnam at the outset of
American involvement there.
On February 5, 1969, an EC47 (electronic
surveillance) departed Pleiku Airbase, Republic of
Vietnam on a tactical reconnaissance mission over
Laos. The aircraft crew included LtCol. Harry T.
Niggle, Capt. Walter F. Burke, Major Robert E.
Olson, Major Homer M. Lynn Jr., MSgt. Wilton N.
Hatton, SSgt. Rodney H. Gott, TSgt. Louis J.
Clever, SSgt. James V. Dorsey Jr., SSgt. Hugh L.
Sherburn (radio operator on the aircraft), and Sgt.
Clarence L. McNeill. The last radio contact with
the aircraft was at 8:10 a.m. at which time it was
located about 21 miles west-northwest of the city
of Chavane in Saravane Province, Laos.
When the aircraft failed to make a scheduled stop
at Phu Bai Airport near Hue shortly before noon,
search efforts were initiated to locate the
aircraft. During the remainder of the day and for
six succeeding days, extensive communication and
ramp checks were made, as well as a visual search
of the area from the last known position of the
aircraft through its intended flight path. Because
no information was forthcoming which would reveal
the whereabouts of the missing aircraft and crew,
the search was then terminated.
In the fall of 1969, the wreckage of an EC47 was
located in a jungle-covered mountainous area in the
approximate last known location of Sherburn's
aircraft. The wreckage site was searched, and
remains and a number of items were recovered. These
items were later correlated to Sherburn's aircraft.
The Department of the Air Force believes that the
aircraft was faced with a sudden airborne
emergency since the right wing of the aircraft was
found some 500 meters from the main wreckage site.
It was believed that the engine caught fire
causing the wing to separate from the fuselage
while the aircraft was still in the air. Further,
the Air Force states that although the crew members
had parachutes, it is unlikely that the apparent
suddenness of the emergency would have permitted
anyone to abandon the aircraft. The absence of
emergency radio signals further diminished the
hope that any of the crew members could have
survived.
At this time, the Air Force declared the ten men
onboard the aircraft to be dead, and so notified
the families. The remains found at the crash site
were interred in a single grave at Jefferson
Barracks National Cemetery in St. Louis. Military
officials told eight of the families that the
remains of only two individuals had been
identified, but would not reveal those identities
to them. (It is assumed that the families of the
two individuals identified were informed.)
In February 1970, the Sherburn family was informed
that the remains found at the crash site were
skeletal and commingled, and that Air Force
identification specialists were unable to determine
that they had a composite of ten individuals --
and were unable to establish the identity of any
of the remains.
About the same time the crew of the EC47 was being
interred in St. Louis, another mass burial was
conducted, containing 18 USMC and Navy personnel.
On January 28, 1973, PFC Ronald Ridgeway, one of
those 18 "dead and buried" servicemen, was released
alive from a POW camp in Hanoi. The U.S. had not
known that he was a prisoner of war.
Although the relatives found little hope in
Ridgeway's return, some thought it entirely
possible that others might have escaped with
Ridgeway. How many others, some family members
wondered, had been captured without the U.S.
finding out?
If such a thing could happen to the Marine and Navy
group, what about the EC47 lost in Laos?
Unfortunately, when the war ended, no American
held in Laos was released. The U.S. has not
negotiated the freedom of a single man the Pathet
Lao asserted they held prisoner in Laos.
The U.S. Government has never changed its position
on the Marines, Navy and Air Force personnel
interred in mass graves in St. Louis, and has
continued to state unequivocally that they were
killed in action because the families could not
produce proof otherwise. Although the government
lacked positive evidence that most of these men
were dead, its assumption that they were dead
overruled any assumption that they might be alive.
The Marine Corps has admitted that some of those
"buried" men could have been captured, but that
it is doubtful. Even though considerable doubt
surrounds the identification of the men buried in
St. Louis, and, indeed, some of them might have
survived, official status change has been denied.
Since the war ended, over 10,000 reports of
Americans prisoner, missing or unaccounted for in
Southeast Asia have been received by the U.S.
It would not be erroneous to speculate that if the
U.S. received a first-hand, live sighting report on
the men "buried" in St. Louis, that report would
be debunked because they are all "dead."
Although many experts who have reviewed the
largely-classified information relating to
Americans still missing in Southeast Asia have
concluded that hundreds of them are still alive in
captivity, the USG cannot seem to make up its mind.
Meanwhile, how many wait for their country to come
for them? Who will look for these men?
|
