The following information comes from the POW/MIA site and the DOD. I was told of the information not on the news, but by the surviving daughter of a USAF Pararescueman who is MIA. Here's the announcement memo:

"To: ALL

"From: Bob Necci & Carol Hrdlicka, Andi Wolos
(POW-MIA Fax Network)

"Date: October 01, 1997

"From DOD -

"MEMORANDUM FOR CORRESPONDENTS No. 177-M

"The remains of seven American servicemen previously unaccounted-for from Southeast Asia have been identified and were returned to their families for burial in the United States.

"They are identified as Capt. Peter H. Chapman, Centerburg, Ohio; 1st Lt. John H. Call III, Potomac, Md.; Tech. Sgt. Allen J. Avery, Auburn, Mass.; Tech. Spt. Roy D. Prater, Tiffin, Ohio; and Sgt. William R. Pearson, Webster, N.H., all U.S. Air Force personnel. The names of one U.S. Air Force airman and one U.S. Army aviator will not be released at the request of their families.

"On April 6, 1972, Chapman, Call, Avery, Prater, and Pearson were flying an H-53C Super Jolly helicopter on a search and rescue mission over Quang Tri, South Vietnam. While trying to evade enemy ground fire, Chapman, the pilot, flew the helicopter to an altitude of 200 feet. Subsequently, the helicopter crashed into the ground and burst into flames. Other aircraft in the area did not see anyone exit the aircraft prior to impact.

"In 1989, 1992, and 1994, joint U.S.-Vietnamese teams investigated and excavated a crash site in Quang Tri Province. During the 1992 investigation of this loss incident, a local villager reported finding remains and burying them in his garden. The U.S. investigators excavated the garden and recovered possible humans remains. Later, in 1994, a joint team found numerous bone fragments, personal effects, and aircraft wreckage. The remains were repatriated to the United States.

"The remains of Chapman, Call, and Pearson were identified individually, and along with Avery and Prater, are part of a group remains identification. Mitochondrial DNA testing was used to confirm the identifications.

"With the identification of these seven servicemen, 2,109 Americans remain unaccounted-for from the Vietnam War.

"The U.S. government welcomes and appreciates the cooperation of the government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam which resulted in the accounting of these servicemen. We hope that such cooperation will bring increased results in the future. Achieving the fullest possible accounting for these Americans is of the highest national priority."

In case you don't know, this aircrew was lost trying to rescue Lieutenant Colonel Iceal E. Hambleton, who was shot down on April 2, 1972. His call sign was Bat 21. According to the FAC who witnessed the crash, the Jolly came in low and fast, but over a heavy concentration of large weapons. The FAC tried to warn the Jolly off, but was too late. The Jolly was hit, and caught fire. It then rolled on one side and crashed, killing the whole crew. Many crewmembers and aircraft were lost before Lieutenant Colonel Hambleton was finally recovered on April 13th. A book and a movie were made of this, one of the longest and most complicated rescue missions of the war.

The following are narrative accounts of the mission:

Information on U.S. Air Force helicopter HH-53C tail number 68-10365

Date: 720406 MIA-POW file reference number: 1817

Incident number: 72040610.KIA

Unit: 37 ARRS

South Vietnam

UTM grid coordinates: YD170595

Loss to Inventory

Crew: ALLEY, JAMES HAROLD;


Crew Members:

C TSG AVERY ALLEN JONES BNR

C SGT PEARSON WILLIAM ROY BNR

C TSG PRATER ROY DEWITT BNR

P CPT CHAPMAN PETER HAUDEN II BNR

P CPT CALL JOHN HENRY III BNR


REFNO Synopsis:
Personnel in Incident: April 2: Robin F. Gatwood; Wayne L. Bolte; Anthony Giannangeli; Charles A. Levis; Henry M. Serex; (all missing from the EB66). LtCol. Iceal Hambleton (rescued after 12 days from EB66). Ronald P. Paschall;
Byron K. Kulland; John W. Frink (all missing from UH1H rescue helicopter), Jose M. Astorga (captured and released in 1973 from UH1H). April 3: William J. Henderson (captured and released in 1973 from OV10A rescue craft); Mark Clark
(rescued after 12 days from OV10A rescue craft). April 6: James H. Alley; Allen J. Avery; Peter H. Chapman; John H. Call; William R. Pearson; Roy D. Prater (all KIA/BNR from HH53C "Jolly 52" rescue chopper). Also in very close
proximity to "Bat 21"on April 3: Allen D. Christensen; Douglas L. O'Neil; Edward W. Williams; Larry A. Zich (all missing from UH1H). April 7: Bruce C. Walker (evaded 11 days); Larry F. Potts (captured & died in POW camp) (both
missing from OV10A).

(I'm not sure of the origin of the following narrative. jcr)

SYNOPSIS: On the afternoon of April 2, 1972, two Thailand-based EB66 aircraft (Bat 21 and Bat 22), from the 30th Air Division, were flying pathfinder escort for a cell of B52s bombing near the DMZ. Bat 21 took a direct SAM hit and the plane went down. A single beeper signal was heard, that of navigator Col. Iceal Hambleton. At this time it was assumed the rest of the crew died in the crash.

The crew included Maj. Wayne L. Bolte, pilot; 1Lt. Robin F.
Gatwood, LtCol. Anthony R. Giannangeli, LtCol. Charles A. Levis, and Maj. Henry M. Serex, all crew members. It should be noted that the lowest ranking man aboard this plane was Gatwood, a First Lieutenant. This was not an ordinary crew, and its members, particularly Hambleton, would be a prize capture for the enemy because of military knowledge they possessed. It became critical, therefore, that the U.S. locate Hambleton, and any other surviving crew members before the Vietnamese did - and the Vietnamese were trying hard to find them first.

An Army search and rescue team was nearby and dispatched two UH1H "slicks" and two UH1B "Cobras". When they approached Hambleton's position just before dark, at about 50 feet off the ground, with one of the AH1G Cobra gunships flying at 300 feet for cover, two of the helicopters were shot down. One, the Cobra (Blue Ghost 28) reached safety and the crew was picked up, without having seen the other downed helicopter.

The other, a UH1H from F Troop, 8th Cavalry, 196th Brigade, had just flown over some huts into a clearing when they encountered ground fire, and the helicopter exploded. Jose Astorga, the gunner, was injured in the chest and knee by the gunfire. Astorga became unconscious, and when he recovered, the helicopter was on the ground. He found the pilot, 1Lt. Byron K. Kulland, lying outside the helicopter. WO John W. Frink, the co-pilot, was strapped in his seat and conscious. The crew chief, SP5 Ronald P. Paschall, was pinned by his leg in the helicopter, but alive. WO Franks urged Astorga to leave them, and Astorga was captured. He soon observed the aircraft to be hit by automatic weapons fire, and to explode with the rest of the crew inside. He never saw the rest of the crew again.

Astorga was released by the North Vietnamese in 1973.

The following day, Nail 38, an OV10A equipped with electronic rescue gear enabling its crew to get a rapid "fix" on its rescue target entered Hambleton's area and was shot down. The crew, William J. Henderson and Mark Clark, both parachuted out safely. Henderson was captured and released in 1973. Clark evaded for 12 days and was subsequently rescued.

On April 3, the day Nail 38 was shot down, a UH1H "slick" went down in the same area carrying a crew of four enlisted Army personnel. They had no direct connection to the rescue of Bat 21, but were very probably shot down by the same SAM installations that downed Bat 21. The helicopter, from H/HQ, 37th Signal Battalion, 1st Signal Brigade, had left Marble Mountain Airfield, Da Nang, on a standard resupply mission to signal units in and around Quang Tri City.

The crew, consisting of WO Douglas L. O'Neil, pilot; CW2 Larry A. Zich, co-pilot; SP5 Allen D. Christensen, crew chief; and SP4 Edward W. Williams, gunner; remain missing in action. On April 6, an attempt was made to pick up Clark and Hambleton which resulted in an HH53C helicopter being shot down. The chopper was badly hit. The helicopter landed on its side and continued to burn, consuming the entire craft, and presumably, all 6 men aboard.

The crew of this aircraft consisted of James H. Alley, a photographer; Allen J. Avery, John H. Call III, Peter H. Chapman, William R. Pearson, and Roy D. Prater. Search and rescue noted no signs of survivors, but it is felt that the Vietnamese probably know the fate of this crew because of the close proximity of the downed aircraft to enemy locations.

On April 7 another Air Force OV10A went down in the area with Larry Potts and Bruce Walker aboard. Walker, the Air Force pilot of the aircraft, evaded capture 11 days, while it is reported that Potts was captured and died in Quang Binh prison. Potts, the observer, was a Marine Corps officer. Walker's last radio transmission to search and rescue was for SAR not to make an attempt to rescue, the enemy was closing in. Both men remain unaccounted for.

Hambleton and Clark were rescued after 12 incredible days. Hambleton continually changed positions and reported on enemy activity as he went, even to the extent of calling in close air strikes near his position. He was tracked by a code he devised relating to the length and lie direction of
various golf holes he knew well. Another 20 or so Americans were not so fortunate.

In July 1986, the daughter of Henry Serex learned that, one week after all search and rescue had been "called off" for Bat 21, another mission was mounted to recover "another downed crewmember" from Bat 21. She doesn't know whether or not it is her father or another man on the EB66 aircraft. No additional information has been released. When the movie "Bat 21" was released, she was horrified to learn that virtually no mention of the rest of the crew, including her father, was made.

In Vietnam, to most fighting men, the man that fought beside them, whether in the air or on the ground, was worth dying for. Each understood that the other would die for him if necessary. Thus, also considering the critical knowledge possessed by Col. Hambleton and some of the others, the seemingly uncanny means taken to recover Clark and Hambleton are not so unusual at all.

_____________

I know that this was a long post, but as a fellow crewmember of Al Avery's, I feel that there needs to be some recognition of this event. The term, "Welcome Home," takes on a whole new context now for me.

PS-'Sorry for the duplication, but I felt this string deserved a title, and I did not get it right the first time.

-- searat@sorcom.com (John C. Ratliff)