WILLIAM HENRY OSTERMEYER
Rank/Branch: O2/US Air Force
Unit: 435th Tactical Fighter Squadron, Ubon AF TH
Date of Birth: 15 March 1945 (Cleveland OH)
Home City of Record: Orlando FL
Date of Loss: 12 May 1972
Loss Coordinates: 171200N 1960900E (XE222018)
Status (in 1973): Missing in Action
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: F4D
Refno: 1856
Other Personnel in Incident: Lonnie P. Bogard
(missing)
Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 30 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: The Phantom, used by Air Force, Marine
and Navy air wings, serveda multitude of functions
including fighter-bomber and interceptor, photo and
electronic surveillance. The two man aircraft was
extremely fast (Mach 2), and had a long range
(900 - 2300 miles, depending on stores and
mission type). The F4 was also extremely
maneuverable and handled well at low and high
altitudes. The F4 was selected for a number of
state-of-the-art electronics conversions, which
improved radar intercept and computer bombing
capabilities enormously. Most pilots considered
it one of the "hottest" planes around.
Capt. Lonnie P. Bogard, had celebrated his
birthday the day before he was assigned a night
low-level reconnaissance mission along the Ho
Chi Minh trail on May 12, 1972. Bogard was the
pilot, and 1Lt. William H. Ostermeyer the
electronics officer comprising the crew of an F4D
Phantom. The mission went according to plan until
after a scheduled mid-air refueling, after which
radio contact was lost with the aircraft. At last
contact, Bogard and Ostermeyer were near the Ban
Karai Pass in Savannakhet Province, Laos.
The Ban Karai Pass was one of several passageways
through the mountainous border of Vietnam and Laos.
American aircraft flying from Thailand to missions
over North Vietnam flew through them regularly,
and many aircraft were lost. On the Laos side of
the border coursed the "Ho Chi Minh Trail", a
road heavily traveled by North Vietnamese troops
moving materiel and personnel to their destinations
through the relative safety of neutral Laos.
The return ratio of men lost in and around the
passes is far lower than that of those men lost in
more populous areas, even though both were shot
down by the same enemy and the same weapons. This
is partly due to the extremely rugged terrain and
resulting difficulty in recovery.
The U.S. Air Force placed Bogard and Ostermeyer
in the category of Missing in Action. The Defense
Intelligence Agency (DIA) further refined that
category to include the likelihood of enemy
knowledge, classifying Bogard and Ostermeyer as
Category 4. Category 4 includes those individuals
on whom no intelligence exists to support the
belief that the enemy knew details of the loss,
or individuals whose loss time and location are
unknown.
The families of Bogard and Ostermeyer understood
that the two could have been captured by either
Pathet Lao forces or North Vietnamese, and waited
for the war to end.
When peace agreements were signed, Secretary of
State Henry Kissinger informed the families of the
men prisoner and missing that their men would
soon come home. When asked specifically if the
agreements included all countries (Vietnam,
Cambodia, China and Laos), Kissinger replied,
"What do you think took us so long."
When 591 American prisoners were released in the
spring of 1973, it became evident that Kissinger
had lied to the families. No prisoners held by the
Chinese, Lao or Cambodians were released, even
though the Pathet Lao had stated on a number of
occasions that they held "tens of tens" of
Kissinger had not negotiated for these men.
In Laos alone, nearly 600 Americans are Prisoner
of War or Missing in Action. Since 1975, nearly
10,000 reports relating to Americans still
missing in Southeast Asia, convincing many
authorities that hundreds of Americans are still
held in captivity. Lonnie Bogard and William
Ostermeyer could be among them. It's time we
|
