Name: Barry Frank Fivelson
Rank/Branch: W1/US Army
Unit: 159th Aviation Battalion, 101st Airborne Division
Date of Birth: 19 March 1950
Home City of Record: Evanston IL
Date of Loss: 15 February 1971
Country of Loss: Laos
Loss Coordinates: 163836N 1062558E (XD528405)
Status (in 1973): Killed/Body Not Recovered
Category: 3
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: CH47C

Other Personnel In Incident: Donald E. Crone; Willis C. Crear;
John L. Powers; Marvin M. Leonard; James H. Taylor (all missing)

Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 01 September 1990
from one or more of the following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources,
correspondence with POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews.

REMARKS: EXPLODE - NO SURV OBS AIR - J

SYNOPSIS: Lam Son 719 was a large-scale offensive
against enemy communications lines which was conducted in that part of Laos adjacent
to the two northern provinces of South Vietnam. The South Vietnamese
would provide and command ground forces, while U.S. forces would furnish
airlift and supporting fire.

Phase I, renamed Operation Dewey Canyon II,
involved an armored attack by the U.S. from Vandegrift base camp toward Khe Sanh,
while the ARVN moved into position for the attack across the Laotian border.
Phase II began with an ARVN helicopter assault and armored brigade thrust along
Route 9 into Laos. ARVN ground troops were transported by American helicopters,
while U.S. Air Force provided cover strikes around the landing zones.

On February 15, 1971, during one of these maneuvers,
a CH47 helicopter was assigned the task of ferrying a load of gasoline
into Savannakhet Province, Laos. The crew of the aircraft consisted of
SP4 Donald E. Crone, crew chief; CWO Marvin M. Leonard, pilot; SP4 Willis C. Crear,
door gunner; SP4 John L. Powers, flight engineer; 2Lt. James H. Taylor, aircraft commander.
WO Barry F. Fivelson was a passenger onboard the aircraft.

During the mission, the aircraft was hit by enemy fire
and began to lose altitude. During the descent, the sling load apparently exploded,
causing the helicopter to explode, break into pieces, and crash.
Observers later said that the helicopter seemed disoriented and that it
had overflown the nearest friendly location by several miles and had descended in enemy-held
territory about 10 miles southeast of Sepone.

According to the U.S. Army, air searches conducted within minutes
of the crash revealed no sign of survivors. However,
according to information given to family members, the aerial search failed to find evidence of a crash.
A ground search was not possible because of hostile threat in the area.
(Note also that Defense Department data remarks indicates that a crash site was found
and that no survivors were observed from the air.)

The men aboard the CH47 were all classified Killed/Body Not Recovered.
The families maintain there is still a mystery surrounding
the crash of the aircraft, and they would like to know the whole truth.

Proof of the deaths of Powers, Fivelson, Taylor, Crear, Crone and Leonard was
never found.
No remains came home; none was released
from prison camp. They were not blown up, nor did they sink to the bottom of the ocean.
Someone knows what happened to them.
The personnel aboard the CH47 are among nearly 600 Americans lost in Laos.
The communist Lao stated on several occasions
that they held American prisoners, but as the U.S. did not recognize the Pathet Lao as
a legitimate government, we never negotiated with them for their release.
Consequently, not one man held in Laos was ever released.

Were it not for thousands of reports relating
to Americans still held captive in Southeast Asia today,
the families of the CH47 helicopter crew might be able to believe their men died with their aircraft.
But until proof exists that they died, or they are brought home alive, they will wonder and wait.