M.I.A.'s/P.O.W.'s
issing in action, their fate unknown
s the word that was sent to their kin
omewhere far away in a foreign land
earch for the truth must begin
nto every conceivable source or record
egotiating when all else fails
etting the answers no matter how sad
s better that the present travails
ot knowing whether loved one is living or dead
t rest or in some living hell
an't we get answers to end all our doubts
hese tormenting visions to dispel?
sn't it time to explore every way
f getting final answers now--today
ews of our P.O.W. or M.I.A.?
*A.L. Cornish*
 | This POW/MIA Ring site |  |
Rank/Branch: E5/US Army Special Forces
Unit: C & C Detachment, MACV-SOG, 5th Special Forces Group
Date of Birth: 13 May 1950 (Indianapolis IN)
Home City of Record: Attica IN
Date of Loss: 04 December 1970
Country of Loss: Laos
Loss Coordinates: 145418N 1072858E (YB671492)
Status (in 1973): Killed/Body Not Recovered
Category: 2
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: Ground
Refno: 1681
Other Personnel in Incident: (none missing)
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.
REMARKS:
SYNOPSIS: Sgt. George C. Green Jr. was a rifleman assigned to Special Operations Augmentation, Command & Control Detachment, MACV-SOG (Military Assistance Command, Vietnam Studies and Observation Group). MACV-SOG was a joint service high command unconventional warfare task force engaged in highly classified operations throughout Southeast Asia. The 5th Special Forces channeled personnel into MACV-SOG (although it was not a Special Forces group) through Special Operations Augmentation (SOA), which provided their "cover" while under secret orders to MACV-SOG. The teams performed deep penetration missions of strategic reconnaissance and interdiction which were called, depending on the time frame, "Shining Brass" or "Prairie Fire" missions.
Green's long range reconnaissance patrol (LRRP) was operating in Attopeu Province, Laos about 20 miles west of the South Vietnamese city of Dak Sut on December 4, 1970. At 0920 hours that day, the enemy assaulted the team at a landing zone (LZ) with rifle fire and rocket propelled grenades. Green was hit three times and was instantly killed. Because of the intensity of the enemy attack and fire, the recon team had to leave Green's remains behind.
Later aerial searches were made of the area, but Green's body was not seen. Because of enemy control of the area, no ground search was possible. Green is one of nearly 600 Americans lost in Laos. Although the communist government of Laos stated publicly that they held American prisoners, they insisted the POWs would be released only from Laos. The U.S. would not negotiate with the communist faction, a "government" they did not officially recognize, and as a result, not one American held in Laos was ever released.
For every insertion like Green's that were detected and stopped, dozens of other commando teams safely slipped past NVA lines to strike a wide range of targets and collect vital information. The number of MACV-SOG missions conducted with Special Forces reconnaissance teams into Laos and Cambodia was 452 in 1969. It was the most sustained American campaign of raiding, sabotage and intelligence-gathering waged on foreign soil in U.S. military history. MACV-SOG's teams earned a global reputation as one of the most combat effective deep-penetration forces ever raised.
The missions Green and others were assigned were exceedingly dangerous and of strategic importance. The men who were put into such situations knew the chances of their recovery if captured was slim to none. They quite naturally assumed that their freedom would come by the end of the war. For 591 Americans, freedom did come at the end of the war. For another nearly 600 lost in Laos, however, freedom has never come.
Since the war ended, nearly 10,000 reports relating to missing Americans in Southeast Asia have been received by the U.S., convincing many authorities that hundreds remain alive in captivity. While Green may not be among them, one can imagine his pride in mounting one more mission to help them to freedom. What are we doing to bring these men home?
Name: Delmar George Booze
Rank/Branch: O1/US Marine Corps
Unit: VMFA 315, MAG 11
Date of Birth: 07 January 1937
Home City of Record: Papillion NE (Omaha)
Date of Loss: 24 January 1966
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 161900N 1073900E (YD830065)
Status (in 1973): Missing in Action
Category: 4
Acft/Vehicle/Ground: F4B
Refno: 0239
Other Personnel in Incident: Doyle R. Sprick (missing); on another F4B same date, same coordinates: Albert Pitt, Lawrence N. Helber (both missing)
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.
REMARKS:
SYNOPSIS: Capt. Doyle R. Sprick was the pilot and 2Lt. Delmar G. Booze his navigator/bombadier on board an F4B Phantom fighter jet flying out of Da Nang Airbase, South Vietnam on January 24, 1966. Sprick and Booze were part of a multi-aircraft strike mission during a Christmas moratorium. At some point during their mission, while over Thua Thien Province, South Vietnam and about 10 miles south of the city of Hue, the aircraft flown by Sprick and Booze went down. Both men were declared Missing in Action.
Another F4B, apparently on the same strike mission, was downed at the same location on that day. This aircraft was also flying out of VMFA 314, 11th Marine Air Group, and presumably departed Da Nang as well. The second Phantom was flown by Capt. Albert Pitt, accompanied by navigator 2Lt. Lawrence N. Helber. This aircraft disappeared after striking a target. The last contact with the aircraft was a report that their strike on the target had been successful. Helber and Pitt were declared Missing in Action.
All four Marines lost that day were also given a clarifying code indicating the degree of enemy knowledge of their fates. These four were all classified Category 4, which means U.S. Intelligence has no information to indicate that the Vietnamese know their fates.
According to Doyle Sprick's twin brother, Duane, searches were conducted for the aircraft which were extensive and thorough for the time and condition. The Da Nang area, according to Duane, was unfriendly, so the search and rescue was fairly restricted since the area was "owned by the Viet Cong at the time."
In 1969, the Central Intelligence Agency received a rather extensive and detailed report relating to a POW camp near the city of Hue in which scores of Americans had been held. When asked to review photographs of Americans still missing, the source giving the information positively identified Albert Pitt as having been detained in this camp. This identification was made on April 11, 1969. The source also listed the Viet Cong Huong Thuy District Committee members and provided sketches of the committee's headquarters and POW camp.
The U.S. intelligence community determined that it could not "be determined why the source selected (Pitt's) photograph" as he "was never seen by other US PWs following his loss incident". The source was summarily dismissed, and his information discounted. The report was classified.
Over 15 years later, this report was unearthed by a concerned citizen through the Freedom of Information Act. He immediately contacted the family of one of the men on the "positive ID" list, and was shocked to learn that they had never been told of the report's existence, nor did they have any clue that their son could possibly have been captured.
Since that time, the lengthy report was distributed widely, and came into the hands of two of the men whose name appeared on the "Positive ID" list who had been fortunate enough to be released in 1973 by the North Vietnamese. These returned POWs verified the accuracy of the report insofar as the compound was concerned and added that it was a "way station", or temporary holding center in which POWs were held only for brief periods of time. Thus, they were not surprised to see many names on the list of men they had not seen at this facility.
Since American involvement in the Vietnam war ended in 1975, nearly 10,000 reports concerning Americans missing in Southeast Asia have been received by the U.S. Government. Less than 200 of them have been determined to be false, or fabricated reports. Many have been correlated to individuals who returned to the U.S. in 1973. In late 1989 about 125 cases were still under investigation, undergoing the "closest scrutiny" the U.S. intelligence community could give them. Thus far, according to the U.S. Government, it has not been possible to resolve these cases as false or true. Many authorities are convinced that hundreds of Americans are still being held prisoner in Southeast Asia.
If Albert Pitt was accurately identified by the Vietnamese source in 1969, he has been criminally abandoned by the country he proudly served. If Albert Pitt could be forgotten and be held unseen by other American POWs, why not Sprick? Booze? Helber? Why not several hundred of the nearly 2500 still missing? If they are alive, why are they not home? Are we doing enough to learn the fates of our heroes?
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