Barclay Bingham Young – Major, United States Air Force

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  • Full Name: BARCLAY BINGHAM YOUNG
  • Wall Name: BARCLAY B YOUNG
  • Date of Birth: 8/6/1938
  • Date of Casualty: 3/29/1972
  • Home of Record: FT LAUDERDALE, FLORIDA
  • Branch of Service: AIR FORCE
  • Rank: MAJOR
  • Casualty Country: LAOS
  • Casualty Province: LZ
  • Status: MIA

Airmen MIA From Vietnam War are Identified

The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of four U.S. servicemen, missing in action from the Vietnam War, have been identified and will be returned to their families for burial with full military honors.

They are Major Barclay B. Young, of Hartford, Connecticut; and Senior Master Sergeant James K. Caniford, of Brunswick, Maryland. The names of the two others are being withheld at the request of their families. All men were U.S. Air Force. Caniford will be buried May 28 in Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C., and Young’s burial date is being set by his family.

Remains that could not be individually identified are included in a group which will be buried together in Arlington. Among the group remains is Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Henry P. Brauner of Franklin Park, New Jersey, whose identification tag was recovered at the crash site.

On March 29, 1972, 14 men were aboard an AC-130A Spectre gunship that took off from Ubon Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand, on an armed reconnaissance mission over southern Laos. The aircraft was struck by an enemy surface-to-air missile and crashed. Search and rescue efforts were stopped after a few days due to heavy enemy activity in the area.

In 1986, joint U.S.- Lao People’s Democratic Republic teams, lead by the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC), surveyed and excavated the crash site in Savannakhet Province, Laos. The team recovered human remains and other evidence including two identification tags, life support items and aircraft wreckage. From 1986 to 1988, the remains were identified as those of nine men from this crew.

Between 2005 and 2006, joint teams resurveyed the crash site and excavated it twice. The teams found more human remains, personal effects and crew-related equipment. As a result, JPAC identified Young, Caniford and the other crewmen using forensic identification tools, circumstantial evidence, mitochondrial DNA and dental comparisons.

By LEE HIGGINS

Courtesy of The State, Columbia, South Carolina

7 June 2008

Barclay Young Jr. was 8 years old when his mother sat him and his two younger sisters down on the bed at their home in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and told them their father’s plane went down during the Vietnam War.

“We were told his plane was shot down and he was missing in action,” said Young, of Chester, Connecticut, a 1987 USC graduate.

He was old enough to understand his father, Air Force Major Barclay B. Young, was “not coming back,” but held out hope because his remains weren’t found.

Two months ago, he sat down with Air Force officials who recently had identified his father’s remains through DNA.

Major Young, of Hartford, Connecticut, will be buried August 7, 2008, with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.

It has brought some comfort to his widow, Gabrielle Young Turnmeyer, of Sumter, South Carolina.

“It’s been a long journey, and I hope this puts us at peace with the situation,” she said.

Young was one of 14 men aboard a gunship that took off March 29, 1972, from Ubon Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand, on a mission over southern Laos, Department of Defense officials said. It was struck by an enemy surface-to-air missile and crashed.

Search and rescue efforts were stopped after a few days because of heavy enemy activity in the area, DOD officials said.

In 1979, Young Jr. said, his father’s status was changed to presumed killed in action. A headstone bearing his name was placed at Arlington National Cemetery, and his family, which was living in Sumter, held a memorial service at a local church.

In 1986, joint U.S.-Lao People’s Democratic Republic teams, led by the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC), excavated the crash site in Savannakhet Province, Laos, officials said.

The team recovered human remains, as well as two ID tags, life support items and aircraft wreckage, and identified nine of the crewmen. Between 2005 and 2006, joint teams again surveyed the crash site and found more remains and personal effects.

As a result, JPAC identified Young and three other crewmen.

Air Force officials told Young they found his father’s tooth, which had a temporary crown. He was the only crewman with such a crown.

Investigators also had found his father’s left forearm bone, using it to identify him through DNA. Young’s sister, Dorothy Lagura, of Clinton, Connecticut, had provided a DNA sample.

While the news gave him closure, Young Jr. admitted “it was also upsetting to know that it is final at this point, that there is no hope.”

He remembers how his father used to sneak him into an Air Force base in Japan and took him to a Japanese ice show, pulling him through the snow on a sled.

Young also is survived by daughters Laura Wotring of Sumter and Cynthia Dodsworth of Virginia Beach, Virginia.

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