Unit: 314th Tactical Airlift Wing, Nha Trang
Date of Birth: 01 May 1933
Home City of Record: Raiford FL
Date of Loss: 29 December 1967
Country of Loss: North Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 220900N 1032200E (UK315501)
Status (in 1973): Missing In Action
Acft/Vehicle/Ground: C130E
Other Personnel In Incident: James R. Williams;
Gean P. Clapper; Charles P. Claxton; Wayne A.
Eckley; Donald E. Fisher; Edward J. Darcy; Frank
C. Parker; Gerald G. VanBuren; Gordon J. Wenaas;
Jack McCrary; (all missing)
REMARKS: RADIO CONTACT LOST
Source: Compiled 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 in 1998.
SYNOPSIS: On December 29, 1967, a C130E aircraft
departed Nha Trang Airbase shortly after midnight
on an operational mission over North Vietnam. The
eleven man crew aboard the aircraft included Maj.
Charles P. Claxton; Capt. Edwin N. Osborne Jr.,
and Capt. Gerald G. Van Buren (all listed as
pilots); and crewmen SSgt. Edward J. Darcy; SSgt.
Gean P. Clapper; SSgt. Wayne A. Eckley; LtCol.
Donald E. Fisher; TSgt. Jack McCrary; Capt. Frank
C. Parker III; Capt. Gordon J. Wenaas; and Sgt.
James R. Williams.
At 4:30 a.m., the pilot made radio contact with
Nha Trang and said the mission was progressing as
scheduled. No further contact was made. The
aircraft's last known position was in extreme
northwest North Vietnam, in mountainous Lai Chau
Province. The eleven Americans aboard the aircraft
were declared Missing in Action.
When the war ended, and 591 Americans were released
from Vietnamese prison camps, the crew of the
C130 was not among them. Although the Vietnamese
pledged, as part of the Paris Peace Accords, to
release all prisoners and make the fullest
possible accounting of the missing, they have done
neither. The Vietnamese deny any knowledge of the
crew of the C130.
Alarmingly, evidence continues to mount that
Americans were left as prisoners in Southeast Asia
and continue to be held today. Unlike "MIAs" from
other wars, most of the nearly 2500 men and women
who remain missing in Southeast Asia can be
accounted for. If even one was left alive (and
many authorities estimate the numbers to be in the
hundreds), we have failed as a nation until and
unless we do everything possible to secure his
freedom and bring him home.
NETWORK NOTE: During May 20-24 we personally spoke
to Col Gargus. After reviewing this document, we
again talked to the Col. regarding statements made
at the end of this report. The clarification is:
Remains of this crew were NOT discovered on the
October 1992 excavation. When the site was
revisited in 1992 and 1993, natives had taken the
remains and co-mingled them. Analysis in 93/94
accounted for only 8 crew members.
Doing DNA testing, the USG claims to have
accounted for ALL eleven crew members. Our concern
- they are not on the remains returned list - his
answer -- RELATIVES HAVE STILL NOT BEEN GIVEN
CUSTODY OF REMAINS IDENTIFIED YEARS AGO.
On Sunday, July 12, 1998 a memorial will be
dedicated in Fort Walton Beach, Florida at 10:00
am. It is hoped the action will force the USG to
turn over remains, if indeed they have been
positively identified.
WE ASK THAT YOU CONTACT YOUR SENATORS AND
CONGRESSMEN REGARDING THIS INCIDENT AND PURPORTED
HOLDING OF POSITIVELY IDENTIFIED REMAINS.
Subject: Air Force Print News for Oct. 28, 2000
Date: Fri, 27 Oct 2000 14:23:16 -0500
001625. Vietnam War MIAs identified
WASHINGTON (AFPN) -- The remains of eleven U.S. Air Force
servicemen missing in action from the Vietnam War have been
identified and are being returned to their families for burial.
They are: Col. Charles P. Claxton, Chicago, Ill.; Col. Donald E.
Fisher, Halfway, Ore.; Lt. Col. Edwin N. Osborne, Jr., Raiford,
Fla.; Lt. Col. Gerald G. Van Buren, Toledo, Ohio; Lt. Col. Gordon
J. Wenaas, Mayville, N.D.; Maj. Frank C. Parker III, Bridgeport,
Pa.; Chief Master Sgt. Jack McCrary, Madison, Tenn.; Chief Master
Sgt. Wayne A. Eckley, Enterprise, Ore.; Chief Master Sgt. Gean P.
Clapper, Altoona, Pa.; and Chief Master Sgt. James R. Williams,
Charlotte, N.C. The name of the eleventh crewmember is not being
released at the request of his family.
On Dec. 29, 1967, their Air Force C-130E Hercules took off from
Nha Trang, Republic of Vietnam, on a special mission over North
Vietnam. Approximately four hours into their mission, the crew
made a radio report from an area near Lai Chau Province, North
Vietnam. When they failed to return to base, a visual and
electronic search was initiated. About a month later, the search
was ended when the aircraft could not be located.
In October and November 1992, a joint U.S. - Socialist Republic
of Vietnam team interviewed five witnesses who had knowledge of
the crash site. Two of the witnesses had visited the area of the
crash in 1967 or 1968 and provided information about the site.
Some of the witnesses turned over identification cards or tags
that contained the names of some of the crew members. The team
visited the site and recovered some human remains.
In February 1993, the government of Vietnam turned over
additional remains and a photocopy of more identification media.
In October and November a joint team led by Joint Task Force-Full
Accounting excavated the suspected crash site where they recovered
aircraft wreckage, personal effects and human remains. In 1994
and 1995, Vietnamese citizens and government officials turned
over additional remains.
Department of Defense analysts concluded from the distribution
of the aircraft wreckage that the C-130 hit a mountainside and
the crew was unaware of the impending crash. Nine parachutes
were accounted for among the artifacts recovered, and there are
no unresolved live sighting reports associated with this incident.
Analysis of the remains and other evidence by the U.S. Army
Central Identification Laboratory Hawaii established the
identification of the eleven servicemen.
