JOINT POW/MIA ACCOUNTING COMMAND (JPAC)
Public Affairs (808) 448-1937
public_affairs@jpac.pacom.mil
RELEASE NO. #06-25
June 30, 2006
JPAC TEAMS RETURN TO LAOS TO SEARCH FOR MISSING AIRCREWS
HICKAM AFB, HAWAII –“Inverted. Going in,” was the last report received from a Vietnam War pilot of a UH-1 Helicopter after getting hit by ground fire February 1971.
The missing aviator is related to just one of the cases that JPAC teams will work to resolve during their 30-day mission in Laos. Four JPAC recovery teams and one investigation team left for Laos this week to search for evidence associated with Americans who never returned from the Vietnam War.
Recovery teams are conducting missions involving a case concerning an A-26A Invader whose crew was in the midst of an air strike when their plane crashed April 1968. A two-man crew, a pilot and navigator, were lost.
Recovery teams are also searching for evidence of un-accounted for personnel from a fourteen-man reconnaissance team. The reconnaissance team’s AC-130A Spectre Gunship aircraft was hit by a surface-to-air-missile, March 1972. RTs will also go to the site of a crewmember from an F-4D Phantom aircraft who is un-accounted for from a September 1969 crash.
Meanwhile, investigation team members will be working on generating leads in hopes of scheduling future excavations. There are 21 cases slated for investigation. The goal of the IT mission is to gather adequate information to correlate specific sites with unaccounted-for service members.
This is the 95th Joint Field Activity in Laos.
"Until they are home"
