Name: George Ivison Mims, Jr.
Rank/Branch: O2/US Air Force
Unit: 433rd Tactical Fighter Squadron, Ubon AF TH
Date of Birth: 17 May 1940
Home City of Record: Manning SC
Date of Loss: 20 December 1965
Country of Loss: North Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 212500N 1063700E
Status (in 1973): Missing In Action
Category: 2
Acft/Vehicle/Ground: F4C
Other Personnel In Incident:
Robert D. Jeffrey (POW released 1973)
Source:
Compiled by Homecoming II Project 15 October 1990 from one or more
of the following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources,
correspondence with POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews.
REMARKS:
SYNOPSIS:
1Lt. George I. Mims was the pilot of an F4C Phantom jet which was
one of four F4Cs flying "MIG cover" for F105's bombing a bridge on the
northeast railroad out of Hanoi into China. Capt. Robert D. "Bob" Jeffrey
was his bombardier/navigator on the mission.
During the flight, Mims' aircraft took what appeared to be a direct hit and other flight members felt sure that there was no chance of survival for either. Only small pieces of the airplane were seen to emerge from the fireball. George Mims had been married only a month, and Bob Jeffrey had a baby son.
When 591 Americans were released from Vietnam in 1973, George Mims was not among them, but his backseater, Bob Jeffrey was. No substantial information has surfaced on Mims since his plane went down. The Vietnamese deny any knowledge of his fate.
Since the war's end, the U.S. Government has received thousands of reports of Americans still in captivity in Southeast Asia. This large volume of evidence suggests that hundreds are still being held.
Henry Kissinger predicted, in the 50's, that future "limited political engagements" would result, unfortunately, in nonrecoverable prisoners of war. This prediction has been fulfilled in Korea and Vietnam, where thousands of men and women remain missing, and where ample evidence exists that many of them (from BOTH wars) are still alive today. The U.S. Government seems unable (or unwilling) to negotiate their freedom. The "unfortunate" abandonment of military personnel is not acceptable, and the policy that allows it must be changed before another generation is left behind in some faraway war.
George I. Mims, Jr. was promoted to the rank of Captain during the period he was maintained missing.
