Vietnam POW/KIA medal group, very interesting story!

[donnie]

Hi guys,

Sorry for posting Vietnam militaria in this section but i couldnt find another more suited. Anyway, bought this Medal Group yesterday and i thought i would share it with you all because i feel you would have the same enthusiasm about it as i have.

The below medal group, wings and insignia belonged to a JOHN QUINCY ADAM, he was shot down over Laos in 1968. There is quite alot of reading invloved but please do read it as its mind blowing.



Name:John Quincy Adam Rank/Branch:Chief Master Sergeant/US Air Force
Unit:41st Tactical Airlift Squadron,
Ubon Airbase, Thailand
Date of Birth:22 December 1947
Home of Record:Bethel, KS
Date of Loss:22 May 1968
Country of Loss:Laos
Status in 1973:Missing in Action
Category:4
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground:C130A Herc
Other Personnel In Incident:Jerry L. Chambers; Calvin C. Glover; Thomas E. Knebel; William H. Mason; William T. McPhail; Thomas B. Mitchell; Gary Pate and Melvin D. Rash (all missing)

REMARKS: CONTACT LOST - NFI

SYNOPSIS: The Lockheed C130 Hercules aircraft was a multi-purpose propeller driven aircraft, and was used as transport, tanker, gunship, drone controller, airborne battlefield command and control center, weather reconnaissance craft, electronic reconnaissance platform; search, rescue and recovery craft.
In the hands of the "trash haulers", as the crews of Tactical Air Command transports styled themselves, the C130 proved the most valuable airlift instrument in the Southeast Asia conflict, so valuable that Gen. William Momyer, 7th Air Force commander, refused for a time to let them land at Khe Sanh where the airstrip was under fire from NVA troops surrounding that base. The C130 was critical in resupplying this area, and when the C130 couldn't land, it dropped its payload by means of parachute drop.
On 22 May 1968, Lt. Col.William H. Mason pilot; Capt. Thomas B. Mitchell, co-pilot; Capt. William T. McPhail, navigator; Major Jerry L. Chambers, observer; SSgt. Calvin C. Glover, flight engineer; AM1 Thomas E. Knebel, crewchief; Sgt. Gary Pate, loadmaster; AM1 Melvin D. Rash, loadmaster; and then AM1 John Q. Adam, loadmaster; comprised the crew of an A130C aircraft, call sign "Blind Bat 01." They were on a normally scheduled night flair drop mission on a frag operation that was to orbit the target area. The region of eastern Laos adjacent to the northernmost provinces of South Vietnam was known as Foxtrot and contained major arteries of the infamous Ho Chi Minh Trail. The target was in the vicinity of the communist airfield located at Tchepone, Savannakhet Province, Laos.
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.
Weather conditions in the area were scattered clouds with visibility of 6 miles. The terrain was mountainous with heavy foliage and an occasional clearing.
At 2055 hours Blind Bat 01 made its last radio contact with the airborne mission command and control center as it was orbiting the target area. At that time the aircraft was positioned near the city of Muong Nong and there was no indication of trouble.
By 2125 hours, the airborne command and control center was unable to raise Blind Bat 01 on the radio, another C130A, call sign Blind Bat 02, was called in to investigate non-contact with Blind Bat 01 and it arrived onsite 15 minutes later. Blind Bat 02 found a large fire on the ground, but when they attempted to investigate the fire, they were driven off by enemy anti-aircraft artillery (AAA) fire. Another aircraft was called in to participate in the aerial search that was equipped with night photography equipment. The photographs it took could not confirm whether or not the fire was associated with an aircraft crash site, but the photo interpreters were of the opinion that the circular fire resembled that of a crashed aircraft. The photography showed no evidence of any parachutes on the ground, and none of the aircrews heard mayday calls or emergency beeper signals emanating from the jungle below.
Because of a lack of any positive evidence of survivors, aircraft wreckage or beepers, no formal search and rescue (SAR) effort was initiated. However, aerial photographs were taken the following day. Again, there was no indication of aircraft wreckage, and the fire burning on the ground the night before had been extinguished. Likewise, there were no signs of survivors in or around the area. At the time the aerial search effort was terminated, Jerry Chambers, William Mason, Thomas Knebel, John Adam, William McPhail, Gary Pate, Melvin Rash and Calvin Glover were listed Missing In Action.
The location of loss was deep within enemy held territory approximately 8 miles southwest of Tavouac, 29 miles west of the Lao/South Vietnamese border, 33 miles west of the A Shau Valley, South Vietnam; and 43 miles south-southeast of the town of Tchepone, Saravane Province, Laos. It was located on the west edge of mountain foothills within 1 mile of a primary north/south road running along the east side of a long, narrow jungle covered valley. Along the west side of the valley ran a power line that paralleled the road. The distance between the road and the power line was often only 1 mile or less and never more than 3 miles as they both continued through the mountains to the south of the valley.
From 1981 to 1984, the Special Forces Detachment, Korea was charged by President Reagan with the responsibility of collecting live POW information throughout Southeast Asia. "SFDK" was commanded by Major Mark Smith, himself a returned POW from the Vietnam War. Through his efforts, and those of team Intelligence Sergeant Mel McIntire, an agent net of 50 agents was established, specifically in Laos. This intelligence net resulted in Major Smith compiling a list of some 26 American POWs by name and captivity location including one man with the last name of "Glover" being one of them. There are two men who are POW/MIAs with that last name and both were lost in Laos.
In April 1984, Major Smith received a message from one of his agents specifying that on 11 May three US Prisoners of War would be brought to a given location on the Lao/Thai border. The only prerequisite was that an American be on the Thailand side of the border to receive the men.
When this information was reported up his chain of command, Major Smith's team was ordered not to leave Korea, to destroy all documents pertaining to LIVE POWs and they were sent back to the United States 6 months early. This documented information was provided to the United States Senate Veterans Affairs Committee in sworn testimony on 28 January 1986.
In June 1989, a source turned in the drawing of an identity card and restricted area access card with the name of Gary Pate on them. In August 1989, a Vietnamese source provided dog tag information from a member of an ethnic minority residing in South Laos together with a photograph reportedly showing human remains at an unknown location. In May 1991, a source in Thailand reported dogtag information associated with Pate. The source stated he had received the information from a "central Vietnamese" who located the dogtag while looking for incense wood near Hue City, South Vietnam, and had instructed the source to provide the information to the US government upon his arrival in Bangkok. In October 1991, US investigators from the Joint Task Force for Full Accounting who were working in Vietnam at the time were again provided dogtag information pertaining to Sgt. Pate along with a bone fragment. The US personnel were told by the source that he was an intermediary acting for others.
The crew of Blind Bat 01 are among nearly 600 Americans who disappeared in Laos. Many of these men were known to be alive on the ground. The Lao admitted holding "tens of tens" of American Prisoners of War, but these men were never negotiated for either by direct negotiation between our countries or the Paris Peace Accords since Laos was not a party to that agreement.
If the crew of Blind Bat 01 died in the loss of their aircraft, they have a right to have their remains returned to their families, friends and country. However, if they were able to bail out and reach the ground safely, there is no doubt they would have been captured. If that is the case, their fate, like that of many other Americans who remain unaccounted for in Southeast Asia, could be quite different.
Since the end of the Vietnam War, 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 and Laos were called upon to fly in many dangerous circumstances, and 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.




This is a report from the USA Int Services from December 1. 1992.




Bob SmithNew HampshireUnited States SenateWashington, D.C. 20510
U.S. POW/MIAs WHO MAY HAVE SURVIVED IN CAPTIVITY





Prepared by the Office of Senator Bob Smith Vice-Chairman, Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs
December 1, 1992


This listing contains the names of 324 STILL UNACCOUNTED FOR U.S.personnel from the Vietnam Conflict. Approximately 300 of thesepersonnel were last known alive in captivity in Vietnam and Laos, lastknown alive, out of their aircraft before it crashed, or their nameswere passed to POWs who later returned. A handful of the cases involvesincidents where the aircraft was later found on the ground with no signsof the crew. This listing is based on all-source U.S. intelligence andcasualty reports, information provided by POWs who were returned,lists of POWs and/or last known alive personnel prepared by the Defense Intelligence Agency, and other information made available to theVice-Chairman, Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs. (The differencebetween 300 and 324 accounts for known incidents where one or moreunidentified crew members were captured from a crew of more than one, orthe aircraft was found with no trace of the crew.)


Based on the high number of MIAs at the end of the war who are stillunaccounted for (currently 1,170 persons for whom the USG does not knowtheir fate), it is probable that a significant percentage of the MIAsNOT on this 324 list actually survived their incident and could havebeen captured. Apparently, only the Vietnamese and Laotians would knowtheir fate, as the U.S. Government does not. GIVEN THIS REALITY, THE LIST OF 324 NAMES WHICH FOLLOWS IS AT BEST CONSERVATIVE

Acosto-Rosario, Humberto USA last known alive (DoD April 1991 list).

Adam, John Q. USAF Laos, name mentioned by Soviet correspondent. (NSA correlation)

In summary,

As of December 1. 1992, John Quincy Adam could have still been alive after 24 years of imprisonment. He may still be alive today. I sit here with his medals and cant comprehend that this man gave his life, not just being killed but a life inside a cage in the jungle forgotten by the outside world.

I wonder if he will ever be found.

Donnie (if you have any questions please ask me)

[Australian Guy]

Thanks for posting, and reminding us all of those still missing. It makes you think!

Cheers,

Grant

[OKW]

Apparantly PoW from the Korean conflict ended up in the then USSR from whence they fell off the radar. And to bring the subject back to TR who knows how many Axis PoW were retained by the USSR and not repatriated. Mind you with the Wehrmachts record on the treatment of Soviet PoW's its hardly surprising. I did read of reported sightings in Russia as late as the early 60's of German prisoners still in the system. I have also seen pictures and film of returning PoW in the 50's being met by people holding pictures and placards, have you seen such and such.

[hrf]

Are you aware of his recovered remains and butial?
Airman missing 40 years is laid to rest

[radonovan]

WOW! That is good news, another lost serviceman returned home. Will his medals be returned as well?

[hrf]

Will his medals be returned as well?

Guess it depends upon donnie and the circumstances, ie. how/when/where they happened to be for sale, and whether actual items from the family, or a group assembled to match the story.

[donnie]

Hi guys,

I agree, it is fantastic news!...the medals are now however with my freind but i am in regular contact with him and he will soon be in contact with the family...

I will let you know what happens...

Donnie

[Chopperman]

Great thread,

My dad was in Thailand in '70 -71. He was an electronics
and radar specialist. He went out on several missions aboard
a A130c gunship.

this very well could have been him, luckily he made it home.

[NickD]

well i now have these medals & have been told that these are more then likely NOT his medals they're to new & more then likely a put together group to sell with the story & would find it very hard to confirm if real or not !!!!!!!!!! so ive got a few worthless medals that i swaped for £140 worth of german bits

[donnie]

Nick, this is how i bought the group....i put them on here for discussion and also WAF (this was a long time ago)...who did you buy them from and who told you it was a put together group??

All the best, Donnie.