The McDonnell F4 Phantom used by Air
Force, Marine and Navy air wings served a multitude of functions including
fighter/bomber, interceptor, photo/electronic surveillance, and reconnaissance.
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. It 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.
It was well known by the summer of
1972 that the war was drawing to a close, and that the North Vietnamese were
offering huge bonuses to anti-aircraft artillery (AAA) gunners who could shoot
down American aircraft and capture the aircrews alive. At this stage in the war
our enemy knew the more men they could capture, the better their chances were at
the negotiating table to secure peace on their terms. Everyone knew the
prisoners were worth much more alive than dead to both sides.
On 12 July 1972, then 1st Lt. James L.
Huard, pilot; and Capt. Samuel O'Donnell, Jr., weapons systems officer;
comprised the crew of an F-4E, call sign was "Wolf 08," conducting an
early morning single aircraft armed reconnaissance mission to interdict NVA
troops and supplies moving across the Rao Nay River. Their mission sector was
described as the Quang Khe Ferry Area, Quang Binh Province, North Vietnam.
At 0730 hours, Wolf 08 entered the
target area. Capt. Huard immediately contacted the airborne battlefield command
and control center (ABCCC) to obtain their first assignment. During this radio
contact, which was also the last communication with Capt. Huard and 1st Lt.
O'Donnell, the aircrew reported no problems with the aircraft or their mission
assignment. Weather conditions in the target area included scattered clouds with
bases ranging from 5,000 to 8,000 feet and visibility of 6 miles.
The ABCCC directed Wolf 08 to
investigate enemy activity in and around the Quang Khe Ferry that crossed the
Rao Nay River as well as the terrain along Highway 1 north of the river toward
Vinh and south toward the major port city of Dong Hoi.
When the Phantom failed to return to
Ubon Airbase by 0900 hours, the estimated time its fuel supply would have been
exhausted, Wolf 08 was declared overdue. The ABCCC attempted to make radio
contact with Capt. Huard and 1st Lt. O'Donnell, but all attempts met with
negative results. An extensive aerial visual and electronic search and rescue (SAR)
mission was immediately initiated and continued over the next three days. The
entire region in and around the Phantom's last known position was thoroughly
searched by air along with Wolf 08's briefed egress route back to base.
According to one report provided to
the men's families, during the subsequent SAR operation, one of the aircrew's
involved in it reported he believed he heard a faint emergency signal emanating
from a densely populated and heavily defended area south the Rao Nay River.
However, no radio contact could be established with either James Huard or Samuel
O'Donnell.
The families were also told that the
Phantom "went down in a reservoir and that some time later when it was
drained, the wreckage of the aircraft was found. However, when it was examined,
no evidence that either crewman stayed with the aircraft and died in it was
found." At the time the formal search was terminated on 15 July 1972, James
Huard and Samuel O'Donnell were listed Missing in Action.
The last contact with the Phantom
placed it just west of Highway 1, less then a mile south of the Rao Nay River
and approximately 1 mile west of the coastline. It was also 18 miles
north-northwest of Dong Hoi, 34 miles northeast of the Ban Karai Pass and 87
miles south-southeast of Vinh.
This sector of the North Vietnamese
coastal plain was laced with roads of various sizes running in different
directions linking not only the populated civilian areas together, but
connecting the major communist manufacturing and supply centers, storage
facilities and railway system with each other. Further, the entire region was
deemed critical to the NVA war effort because of its logistical importance. The
Ban Karai Pass was one of two major ports of entry into the infamous Ho Chi Minh
Trail and the one used by the communists to transport the material from this
part of North Vietnam through Laos and into South Vietnam.
When North Vietnam began to increase
its military strength in South Vietnam, NVA and Viet Cong troops again intruded
on neutral Laos for sanctuary, as the Viet Minh had done during the war with the
French some years before. This border road was used by the Communists to
transport weapons, supplies and troops from North Vietnam into South Vietnam,
and was frequently no more than a path cut through the jungle covered mountains.
US forces used all assets available to them to stop this flow of men and
supplies from moving south into the war zone.
In 1988 the North Vietnamese
unilaterally turned over three boxes reportedly containing the remains of
American POW/MIAs. The three boxes were identified simply as
"1988-230,1988-233 and 1988-234." At the same time, the North
Vietnamese turned over Capt. O'Donnell's military identification card. These
boxes were transported to the Central Identification Laboratory, Hawaii (CIL-HI)
for examination.
CIL-HI personnel were able to obtain mt-DNA samples from the bone fragments in box 1988-230, but the DNA sequences
did not match the DNA samples provided by Huard and O'Donnell families. The bone
fragments in boxes 1988-233 and 1988-234 proved to be from the same person and
subsequently combined under the identifier 1988-233. These remains did not
include teeth or parts of teeth. The bones are fragmentary, but include portions
of long bones that show signs of fracturing at the time of loss. Through mt-DNA
comparison, the remains of James Huard were positively identified on 17 January
1997. They were returned to his family shortly thereafter for burial.
While the family of James Huard
finally has the peace of mind of knowing where their loved one lies, there are
no answers to the fate of Samuel O'Donnell. If he is also dead, he has the right
to have his remains returned to his family, friends and country. However, if he
survived, there is no doubt he would have been captured and his fate, like that
of other Americans who remain unaccounted for in Southeast Asia, could be quite
different.
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 Prisoners of War remaining captive throughout Southeast Asia TODAY.
Pilots and aircrews in Vietnam were
called upon to fly in many dangerous circumstances, and they were prepared to be
wounded, killed or captured. It probably never occurred to them that they could
be abandoned by the country they so proudly served.
Incidental Information
