Name: Robert Vincent Willett, Jr.
Rank/Branch: O2/US Air Force
Unit:
Date of Birth: 05 August 1944
Home City of Record: Great Falls MT
Date of Loss: 17 April 1969
Country of Loss: Laos
Loss Coordinates: 161700N 1064500E (XC860999)
Status (in 1973): Missing In Action
Category: 2
Acft/Vehicle/Ground: F100D
Other Personnel In Incident: (none missing)
REMARKS:
SYNOPSIS:
Robert Willett was married only six weeks before he went to Vietnam.
His job there was piloting the Super Saber jet, the F100 (also sometimes called
the "Hun" or "Lead Sled"). The F100 was a fighter bomber, and good at top cover
and low attack, primarily used in Vietnam for close air support.
On April 17, 1969, Willett's plane was shot down over Laos in Saravane Province, just inside Laos, and south of the city of Khe Sanh, South Vietnam. Circumstances surrounding Willett's loss indicate that there is a strong probability that enemy forces know his fate.
When 591 American prisoners of war that were released in 1973 by the Vietnamese, Willett was not among them. He was among nearly 600 Americans lost in Laos who did not return. Laos was not included in the agreements ending American involvement in Southeast Asia, and the U.S. has never negotiated with the Lao for American prisoners they held. Eventhough the Pathet Lao stated on several occasions that they held American prisoners, not one man held in Laos was released.
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. If even one was left alive (and many authorities estimate the numbers to be in the hundreds), we have failed as a nation until and unless we do everything possible to secure his freedom and bring him home.
