Capt. John Wadsworth Consolvo Jr.
Name: John Wadsworth Consolvo, Jr.
Rank/Branch: O3/US Marine Corps
Unit: Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 212, 1st Brigade, MAG 24
Date of Birth:
Home City of Record: Ft. Belvoir VA
Date of Loss: 07 May 1972
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 164800N 1065700E (YD010555)
Status (in 1973): Missing In Action
Category: 2
Acft/Vehicle/Ground: F4J BuNo #155576
Refno: 1845
Other Personnel In Incident: James J. Castonguay, successfully ejectected
Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 01 April 1991 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 with information from Steven P. Albright.
REMARKS:
SYNOPSIS: Capt. John W. Consolvo was on a combat mission out of Da Nang, South Vietnam when his aircraft was hit by ground fire as he pulled off target. He flew the aircraft about 18 miles to a safer bail-out area before the craft became uncontrollable. Although Consolvo's mission was in South Vietnam near the DMZ, the ground fire that struck his aircraft came from Laos.
Consolvo radioed that the aircraft was incapacitated and ordered his radar intercept officer, CWO James J. Castonguay, to eject. The officer successfully reached the ground, was rescued after 19 hours and returned to Da Nang.
The F4 crashed 3-4 miles from the location the RIO landed, in enemy territory (probably just inside Laos). Although the RIO did not see his pilot eject, he believed he could have easily ejected and probably did. The wingman and forward air controller on the mission did not see him eject, but they had been unable to keep the plane constantly in sight.
John Consolvo flew over 150 combat missions on his first tour of Vietnam. He was into his second tour when he was shot down on May 7, 1972. He had been in the Marine Corps since 1966.
If John Consolvo was unfortunate enough to be apprehended by the Pathet Lao, he is among nearly 600 Americans who disappeared without trace. The Pathet Lao stated on several occasions that they held "tens of tens" of American prisoners, yet not one man held in Laos was ever released - or negotiated for. Circumstances surrounding his crash indicate that the Vietnamese or Lao could account for his fate - alive or dead. John Consolvo does not deserve the abandonment he has received by the country he proudly served.
John W. Consolvo, Jr. graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1966.
Information from No-Quarter:
--- General / Personal ---
Last name: CONSOLVO First name: JOHN WADSWORTH JR Home of Record (official): FORT BELVOIR State (official): VA Date of Birth: Saturday, January 8, 1944 Sex: Male Race: Caucasian Marital Status: Married
--- Military ---
Branch: Marine Corps Rank: CPT Serial Number: 420564999 Component: Regular Pay grade: O3 MOS (Military Occupational Specialty code): 7522
--- Action ---
Start of Tour: Sunday, May 7, 1972 Date of Casualty: Tuesday, October 22, 1974 Age at time of loss: 30 Casualty type: (A3) Hostile, died while missing Reason: Air loss - Crashed on land (Pilot - Fixed wing aircraft) Country: South VietNam Province: Quang Tri The Wall: Panel 01W - Row 014
The Wall Memorial Photo of the F4 Phantom
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