Adopted POW William Francis Mullen

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Capt. William F. Mullen was a Marine A4 pilot. The aircraft he flew, the
Douglas Aircraft A4 Skyhawk was a lightweight attack and ground support
aircraft. The design emphasized low-speed control and stability during
take-off and landing as well as strength enough for catapult launch and
carrier landings. The plane was compact, but in spite of its diminutive
size, packed a devastating punch and performed well where speed and
maneuverability were essential.

On April 29, 1966, Capt. Mullen was sent on a combat mission near the Ban Karai Pass in Laos. When the time arrived that he should have returned, and he had not, the Marines began to try to find him. Bill Mullen was never found.

Name: William Francis Mullen
Rank/Branch: O3/US Marine Corps
Unit: H/HS MWHG1, 1st Marine Air Wing
Date of Birth: 28 March 1935
Home City of Record: Brockton MA
Date of Loss: 29 April 1966
Country of Loss: Laos
Loss Coordinates: 170700N 1060600E (XD170926)
Status (in 1973): Missing in Action

Status (1977): Reported Killed (body not yet returned)
Category: 2
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: A4E
Refno: 0323
Other Personnel in Incident: (none missing)

Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 15 June 1990 from one or more of the following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews. Updated by the P.O.W. NETWORK 1998.

SYNOPSIS: The Ban Karai Pass was one of several passageways through the mountainous border of Vietnam and Laos. American aircraft flying from
Thailand to missions over North Vietnam flew through them regularly, and many aircraft were lost. The North Vietnamese fiercely protected these supply channels. On the Laos side of the border coursed the "Ho Chi Minh Trail", a series of roads heavily traveled by North Vietnamese troops moving material and personnel to their destinations through the relative safety of
neutral Laos. The return ratio of men lost in and around the passes is far lower than that of those men lost in more populous areas, even though both were shot down by the same enemy and the same weapons. This is partly due to the extremely rugged terrain and resulting difficulty in recovery.

It is also partly due to the fact that the U.S. never negotiated the freedom of Americans held by the Lao.

Barbara Mullen received a visit and a telegram from the Marine Corps telling her that her husband had been shot down, but that "every effort" was being made to rescue him. Barbara's experiences in trying to find information on her lost husband led to her later book, "Every Effort."

She found interesting information. Capt. Mullen was identified by other pilots as having been captured. She learned from an Australian freelance photographer who had been held for twenty-nine days by Pathet Lao guerrillas that some 200 Americans were being held in Laos. The guerrillas told him that there was an underground bakery in Sam Neua which made bread especially for the American prisoners, who were not used to a rice diet. The underground complex at Sam Neua was used because of intense U.S. bombing.

During the war years, the Pathet Lao stated publicly that they held "tens of tens" of American prisoners. Yet, when peace agreements were signed in Paris ending American involvement in the war in Vietnam, the families of the men lost in Laos were horrified to learn that Kissinger had not included Laos in the peace agreements.

Today, Barbara and her family do not know if Bill Mullen survived, or if he was captured. But they have watched as over 10,000 reports relating to Americans missing in Southeast Asia have poured into the U.S. Government's intelligence community. They believe that Americans are still alive in Southeast Asia -- and they believe that the abandonment of these men is one of our nation's greatest shames.

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