Amen
Posted on 12/11/2013 7:45:59 PM PST by jttpwalsh
Where did Jay go to high school? His name is the same as a boy I remember in Philadelphia
Amen
He went to High School in New Haven, Connecticut.
Well Done Col. and Welcome home.
Amen... Lest We Forget
Thank you for keeping his memory alive.
In June 1987 and again in August of that year, the Donahue family was given intelligence reports tracking their youngest son's movements from a POW camp in Kham Kuet, Khammouane Province, Laos in the spring of 1987, then to another camp in the Boualapha District of the same province that August. These reports were only a few weeks old at the time the USG obtained them, yet intelligence personnel marked them "routine" and made no effort to act upon the information. One of these reports stated that the POW had been a crewman aboard a C123K aircraft and gave its serial number. When government analysts finally evaluated the report, they discovered that the aircraft number was actually the missing navigator's father's home zip code instead of the aircraft's number. The Donahue family believes this is clearly a message from Morgan Donahue. The crew of the C123K are among the nearly 600 Americans who disappeared in Laos. Like this aircrew, many of these men were known to be alive on the ground. The Laotians admitted holding "tens of tens" of American Prisoners of War, but these men were never negotiated for either by direct negotiations between our countries or through the Paris Peace Accords which ended the Vietnam War since the Laotians were not a party to that agreement.
Since the end of the Vietnam War well over 21,000 reports of American prisoners, missing and otherwise unaccounted for have been received by our government. Many of these reports document LIVE American POWs remaining captive throughout Southeast Asia TODAY.
We left men behind in SE Asia. Something that rats like John Kerry and John McCain did not want anyone to find out.
read Why Didn't You Get Me Out by Frank Anton...
Thanks to all for the information. Had it not been for another thread on the subject by jttpwalsh, I would probably have missed this trip into history. I would ask Chode where the info posted came from, as the Stars and Stripes was not forthcoming on the other aircraft involved.
I was assigned to the 606th ACS NKP Royal Thai Air Base and was rooming with the co-pilot of the C-123 in question. The early morning wakeup with the bad news we had lost an aircraft and more importantly a bunch of good men we knew was one of the unforgettable memories of my year in the war May 68 to May 69.
The only bright spot was the rescue by Jolly Greens from NKP of the pilot. I was present when the rescue helicopter landed and a grateful Tom Turner got out and described his night in the tree unable to extricate himself because his parachute was all wrapped up with the tree. That may have saved his life because the bad guys controlled the area.
One other historical note ACS refers to Air Commando Squadron, which sometime in 1968 was changed to SOS or Special Operations Squadron. Someone on high didn’t like the air commando reference. Sound like PC you can bet your bippy it was clear back in days of yore.
...and thanks again to jttpwalsh for the thread I just happened to run into. He/she claims to not post very much. May that come to a screeching halt LOL.
musta been a hard day indeed...
all the info i have along with the picture came from here http://www.taskforceomegainc.org/ hope it helps
God bless all the KIA/MIA, Lest We Forget
I think the source of information comes from here:
http://www.pownetwork.org/bios/d/d032.htm
That is where I first read the entire summation of events, back in the 90’s. Before that, all I really knew was about Col. McGouldrick having gone MIA, in a midair collision, on Dec. 13, 1968.
Thank you for adding more information, to what has become known, as well as defending Our Nation, and Freedom.
Regrets, Chode, I failed to see your reply - was not trying to contradict your source. Thanks !
no problems... and it gives me another source to use, thx
Thanks again all for research.
A couple of other items noticed that don’t necessarily add up. Flying low at 2 to 3 thousand feet does not fit what I remember about our missions. The strike aircraft seemingly above the FAC also does not ring true unless someone broke through an altitude.
Our altitude was usually in the 8 thousand foot area. We were big, heavy, and slow, and in order to avoid the multi-shot 37mm guns, you could not be lower than about eight thousand feet and expect to be able to out maneuver the exploding shells of the 37mm guns. In addition it put you in range of the lower caliber zpu machineguns.
The strike aircraft always came in at a lower altitude than the FAC especially at night when no one had lights on and you really needed separation. Our whole program was geared to avoid mid air collisions. The ABCCC aircraft which handed off the strike aircraft to us, knew our altitude and would insure separation and that he would be at a lower altitude.
In addition they needed to be under us so that they could dive for bomb release. Their mission was diving at the earth to release ordinance on target, ours was to insure they knew precisely where to put it and that the route in and off target did not infringe on the position the FAC aircraft was maintaining relative the target.
I don’t remember the top of the aircraft part mentioned, but I do remember Tom talking about the entire back end being in flames. Nothing is impossible, but to be struck on top by the strike aircraft is unlikely. More likely would be him busting through his top altitude below us and then hitting us, but even if that happened he would also have to be totally disoriented as to where he should be in the sky relative to us and the target. Probably easy to do on a dark night which this wasn’t because there was a half moon. Any moon made it very easy for the gunners on the ground to see us. All the more reason to be at eight thousand feet.
One more example of the altitude issue was the Spectre C-130 gun ships that came on scene about half way through my tour. They flew in the 4 to 6 thousand foot levels initially, and frankly they got their fannies shot off, losing very expensive platforms that were going after cheap Chinese trucks and minimum wage drivers. We used to say it cost in the neighborhood of fifty grand to kill a truck and that was our business. when Spectre came along the price per kill went up relative to their losses and the ammo they were capable of expending. Not saying they were ineffective, they were gung ho and very effective but vulnerable.
I’m certainly not an expert on their mission my primary point is that altitude made a big difference in your exposure to enemy fire. We still got holes in our aircraft at the altitude we were at. Strike aircraft and Spectre were even more vulnerable. The old WWII adage of not sending an aircraft against guns larger than those on board, still held true. You were at a real disadvantage and the risk wasn’t worth the minimal reward.
Last issue was the number on board mentioned as seven yet they only list five plus the unnamed pilot still leaves one missing. I believe there are six on the “wall” and you can tell by the dates of the accident, because as I remember they are grouped by date. Also keep in mind this comes out of 45 years of time passage and no written notes. God bless the present warriors who are in harms way and all who have gone before back to Concord.
wita: USAF Ret.
wow. Thank was a very interesting post for us civvies.
One thing I failed to mention relative to disorientation, was the FAC could also be mistaken as to where he was in the sky and to the target. Mistakes can be costly and deadly and we won’t know the whole story until we all meet at the “big” reunion, and when that takes place there will be no retribution or finger pointing, only forgiveness, mercy and respect for service and sacrifice.
Thanks, see 56 for the final note.
Thank you. You do realize your post reminds me how wrong a lot of novels and Hollywood portrayals usually are. Of course they are in the business of making money.
That is why I stick to first person accounts. All my books on the war are by actual participants.
...and btw, you are awfully fast on the come back. LOL.
I barely get back to the page of posts and I’m already pinged.
I should have been asleep but I was here.
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