On August 19, 1969, Lt.
Col. Robert N. Smith, pilot, and Capt. John N. Flanigan, radar intercept
officer, departed Da Nang in their F4B Phantom fighter/bomber jet aircraft to
fly escort on a photo reconnaissance mission just north of the Demilitarized
Zone (DMZ).
Smith's aircraft made
one run over the target, and then he and the other aircraft separated and were
supposed to rendezvous for a second run. Smith never returned for the
second run, and contact was never established with Smith or his backseater.
It was never determined
whether Smith's aircraft was shot down or crashed because of a malfunction.
However, the area in which they were last seen, about 5 miles east of the city
of Vinh Linh in Quang Binh Province, North Vietnam, was relatively heavily
defended. The U.S. believes there is a high degree of probability that the enemy
knew what happened to Smith and Flanigan.
Smith and Flanigan were
not among the prisoners of war that were released in 1973. High ranking U.S.
officials admit their dismay that "hundreds" of suspected American
prisoners of war did not return.
Alarmingly, evidence
continues to mount that Americans were left as prisoners in Southeast Asia and
continue to be held today. Unlike "MIAs" from other wars, most of the
nearly 2500 men and women who remain missing in Southeast Asia can be accounted
for. Smith and Flanigan could be among them. Isn't it time we brought our men
home?
The following information was provided via email by MSgt Michael
Glaze, USAF.
UNITED STATES AIR FORCE
NEWS RELEASE-60TH AIR MOBILITY WING (AMW) PUBLIC AFFAIRS DIVISION, TRAVIS AFB, CA PHONE: (707)424-2011
NEWS RELEASE NO. 9706-20
JUNE 26, 1997
The remains of FIVE
American service members previously unaccounted for from Southeast Asia have been
identified and are being returned to their families for burial in the United
States. Their remains will be
repatriated in a ceremony at 4:00 pm June 26 on the Travis flight line.
They are identified as
LT. COL. LEWIS H. ABRAMS, MARINE CORPS, of Montclair, N.J.; MAJ. ROBERT E.
HOLDEMAN, MARINE CORPS. of Winchester, Ind.;
and CAPTAIN JOHN N. FLANIGAN, MARINE CORPS, of Winter Haven, Fla. THE NAMES OF TWO AIR FORCE AVIATORS WILL
NOT BE RELEASED AT THE REQUEST OF THEIR FAMILIES.
On Nov. 25, 1967,
Abrams and Holdeman were shot down while flying a night strike mission near
Haiphong, North Vietnam. A radio
Peking broadcast confirmed the Marine Corps aircraft had been shot down in the
vicinity of Haiphong. In
1988, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam repatriated what they believed to be the
remains of U.S. service personnel lost during the Vietnam War. Included in the remains was a military
identification card fragment with what appeared to be the name Abrams.
In 1993 and 1995, joint
U.S. and Vietnamese teams investigated and excavated a crash site in Hai Phong
Province. Local villagers reported
that remains had previously recovered and turned over to higher authorities. They also turned over bone fragments
found near the crash site. On August 19, 1969,
Flanigan and his pilot were flying an F-4B as escort for a photo recon mission
over North Vietnam. They lost
contact with other aircraft in their
flight, and never made it back to their base at Danang, South Vietnam. In 1989, the Vietnamese gov. repatriated
remains believed to be those of Flanigan. Four subsequent joint US and Vietnamese investigations
were
able to locate their crash site in Quang Binh Province. The site was
excavated in 1995 where aircraft wreckage, aircrew related items, and personnel
effects were located, but NO human remains were found. The remains of
Flanigan turned over by the Vietnamese were positively identified and Mitochondria
DNA testing was used to confirm the identification. With the identification of these FIVE
service members, 2118 Americans remain
unaccounted for from the Vietnam War.** No additional information about the two Air Force aviators has been
given.****
**Please
Note: Although I am
99% sure that the unnamed
pilot mentioned in the
narrative above is Major
Smith, he is still listed
by DPMO as "XX"
on their files listing
(Unaccounted for) obtained
from their website.
"XX" stands for
Presumptive Finding of
Death. As of May 2,
2004, he is still listed
as XX.
May 2,
2004:
While conducting some
research on the internet
this morning, I ran across
a website titled "RETURN TO
VIETNAM A Personal Journey
of Family Closure"
by Robin Smith.
Robin appears to be the
daughter of Col Smith and
the website is about her
trip to Vietnam to say
goodbye to her
father. If you visit
the page, be sure to have
a box of tissues close by!
Incidental Information
