LANCASTER, KENNETH RAY
Name: Kenneth Ray Lancaster
Rank/Branch: SP4/US Army
Unit: Headquarters & Headquarters Company,
LRRP, 9th Infantry Division Date of Birth:
24 June 1946 (Washington DC) Home City of
Record: Silver Springs MD Date of Loss: 03
January 1968 Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 122655N 1085844E
(BP804769) Status (in 1973): Missing In
Action Category:
2 Acft/Vehicle/Ground: UH1H Refno: 0961
Source: Compiled 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 in 1998.
Other Personnel In Incident: (none missing)
REMARKS:
SYNOPSIS: SP4 Kenneth R. Lancaster was a
team leader assigned to Headquarters &
Headquarters Company Long Range
Reconnaissance Platoon (LRRP) of the 9th
Infantry Division. On January 3, 1968,
Lancasters LRRP team was being extracted by
helicopter from a designated pickup point in
Khan Hoa Province, South Vietnam, near the
city of Duc My.
About one minute after takeoff, a member of
the team saw SP4 Lancaster hanging onto the
right skid of the aircraft as the aircraft
continued to gain altitude. The pilot was
informed and requested to land. When it
became evident that the pilot was not able
to land due to rough terrain, immediate
efforts were made to lower a rope. However,
before the rescue attempt could be made,
Lancaster fell from the skid of the aircraft
while the helicopter was at an altitude of
1000 to 1500 feet above the ground.
The area in which Lancaster fell had heavy
vegetation and a triple canopy jungle,
creating a slim possibility that the trees
and heavy vegetation may have broken
Lancaster's fall to some degree. The area
was searched that day and again on January 7
and January 8 by American and indigenous
platoons without success.
Efforts to conduct a thorough search were
limited because no one was able to pinpoint
the precise location where Lancaster fell,
and the area was under heavy enemy patrol.
It was felt that there was a very high
probability that the enemy knew the fate of
SP4 Lancaster, alive or dead.
Kenny is one of nearly 2500 Americans still
missing, prisoner or unaccounted for in
Southeast Asia. Reports relating to these
Americans continue to mount, and many
authorities believe there are hundreds still
alive in captivity today. The Vietnamese
deny knowledge of Americans in Southeast
Asia,and the U.S. Government only
acknowledges the "possibility" that some
remain.
It would be nothing short of miraculous if
Kenny Lancaster survived falling 1000 feet
into the jungle, but his family cannot mourn
until it is known for certain that he is
dead. They know someone has the answers. It
is devastating to consider that he may have
survived and was abandoned to the enemy.
