1 May 1998
Date: Fri, 1 May 1998 12:35:00 -0400 From: DefenseLINK News <dlnews_sender@DTIC.MIL> Subject: DoD Memoranda For Correspondents To: DODMFC-L@DTIC.MIL No. 074-M MEMORANDUM FOR CORRESPONDENTS May 1, 1998 The remains of three American servicemen previously unaccounted-for from Southeast Asia have been identified and are being returned to their families for burial in the United States. They are identified as Col. Richard K. Allee, of Port Jervis, N.Y.; Col. Gordon L. Page, of Palo Alto, Calif.; and Capt. Armon D. Shingledecker, of Lima, Ohio, all U.S. Air Force. On Dec. 21, 1968, Allee was flying an escort mission over Khammouan Province, Laos. During an attack dive, Allee's F-105D Thunderchief aircraft burst into flame. No ejection from the aircraft was observed. In 1994, a joint U.S.-Lao investigative team interviewed local villagers in Khammouan Province about the location of an aircraft crash site. Several villagers described a crash site of an American aircraft that was close to the last reported position for Allee. Team members searched the site and found evidence of a crash and a limited amount of aircraft wreckage. The crash site was excavated in 1996 and remains, personal effects, and life support equipment were recovered. Forensic analysis confirmed the remains were those of Allee. Page was flying an RF-101C Voodoo aircraft, in a flight of two, on a photo reconnaissance mission over Vinh, Vietnam, on March 7, 1966. Both aircraft were lost and no contact was established with either pilot. In 1989, the Vietnamese turned over 28 sets of remains purported to be of American servicemen. No names were associated with these remains. One set of remains was identified as those of Page's wingman. Subsequent interviews of villagers in Nghe An Province by joint U.S.- Vietnamese investigative teams supplied information that correlated to the shootdown of Page. However, no crash site was ever located. A re- examination of some remains repatriated in 1989, based on advanced technology, determined that they were those of Page. On May 31, 1966, Shingledecker was a passenger in a C-130 Hercules flying a classified mission over North Vietnam. The pilot attempted to establish radio contact in the early morning hours. A flight of American F-4s flying over Thanh Hoa Province reported seeing a large ground flash shortly thereafter. When the C-130 failed to return to base, a search mission was launched but no crash site was found. It was determined that the point where the F-4 crewmembers saw the ground flash was in the intended flight path of the C-130. Later on May 31, English language Hanoi Radio and Peking Radio broadcasts reported the downing of a U.S. transport plane on the morning of May 31 over Thanh Hoa Province. All crewmen were purportedly killed. The Vietnamese subsequently turned over a document chronicling this incident. The report indicated that the eight crewmen were killed in the crash, and the remains of five were repatriated in 1986. The remains of the other three were destroyed in the crash. Vietnam repatriated 22 boxes of alleged American remains in April 1986. Shingledecker's name was associated with one of the sets. Forensic analysis of the remains was performed using advanced technology. They were identified as those of Shingledecker. All three sets of remains will be shipped from the U.S. Army's Central Identification Laboratory in Hawaii at a later date determined by the families. The U.S. government welcomes and appreciates the cooperation of the governments of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the Lao People's Democratic Republic which resulted in the accounting of these servicemen. We hope that such cooperation will bring increased results in the future. Achieving the fullest possible accounting for these Americans is of the highest national priority. With the accounting of these three servicemen, there are currently 2,090 unaccounted-for Americans from the Vietnam War. -END- NOTE: This is a plain text version of a web page. If your mail reader did not properly format this information, the original is online at http://www.defenselink.mil/news/ ==================================================== Have you seen the DefenseLINK Highlights? (http://www.defenselink.mil/topstory/) ==================================================== To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send an e-mail to LISTSERV@DTIC.MIL and,in the text of the e-mail (not in the subject line), write: SIGNOFF DODMFC-L If you would like to subscribe to DODMFC-L, send an e-mail to LISTSERV@DTIC.MIL and, in the text of the e-mail (not in the subject line), write: SUBSCRIBE DODMFC-L DefenseLINK Reader ====================================================