On August 23, 1968, aircraft commander,1Lt. Francis L. Setterquist, and his navigator, 1Lt. Charles Bergevin, were assigned a low altitude night reconnaissance mission over North Vietnam. Their aircraft was the reconnaissance version of the F4 Phantom - the RF4C. The target area was about 50 miles northwest of Dong Hoi in Quang Binh Province. Clearance to proceed with the mission was granted and radio radar contact broken at approximately 8:30 p.m. No undue concern was felt until 10:59 p.m. when the aircraft was due back at Udorn and the fuel exhaustion point was reached and Setterquist's aircraft did not return to base.
A later North Vietnamese news release stated that an RF4 had been shot down, but there was no mention of the two man crew. Assuming Bergevin and Setterquist were able to successfully eject and parachute safely to the ground, it is doubtful they would be able to evade capture due to the large concentration of enemy forces in their flight area.
While loss coordinates maintained by the Air Force and Department of Defense indicate that Bergevin and Setterquist were downed in Quang Binh Province, North Vietnam, Joint Casualty Resolution Center (JCRC) records show a loss area of Thailand. No explaination is given for this discrepancy.
In 1973, 591 lucky American prisoners were released from North Vietnam. Bergevin and Setterquist were not among them. Since that time, the U.S. has recived nearly 10,000 reports of Americans still missing in Southeast Asia, and many authorities are convinced that hundreds of them are still alive. The U.S. has not been able to find a way to free any who may still be alive, or to obtain information on a significant number of other Americans who may have perished.