VIETNAM WAR MIAS IDENTIFIED

Eleven U.S. Air Force servicemen missing in action from the Vietnam War have been identified and are being returned to their families for burial.

They are identified as Colonel Charles P. Claxton, Chicago, Illinois; Colonel Donald E. Fisher, Halfway, Oregon.; Lieutenant Colonel Edwin N. Osborne, Jr., Raiford, Florida; Lieutenant Colonel Gerald G. Van Buren, Toledo, Ohio; Lieutenant Colonel Gordon J. Wenaas, Mayville, North Dakota; Major Frank C. Parker III, Bridgeport, Pennsylvania; Chief Master Sergeant Jack McCrary, Madison, Tennessee; Chief Master Sergeant Wayne A. Eckley, Enterprise, Oregon; Chief Master Sergeant Gean P. Clapper, Altoona, Pennsylvania; and Chief Master Sergeant James R. Williams, Charlotte, North Carolina. The name of the eleventh crewmember is not being released at the request of his family. NOTE: Reported to be Chief Master Sergeant Edward Joseph Darcy.

On December 29, 1967, their Air Force C-130E Hercules took off from Nha Trang, Republic of Vietnam, on a special mission over North Vietnam. Approximately four hours into their mission, the crew made a radio report from an area near Lai Chau Province, North Vietnam. When they failed to return to base, a visual and electronic search was initiated. About a month later, the search was ended when the aircraft could not be located.

In October and November 1992, a joint U.S./Socialist Republic of Vietnam team interviewed five witnesses who had knowledge of the crash site. Two of the witnesses had visited the area of the crash in 1967 or 1968 and provided information about the site. Some of the witnesses turned over identification cards or tags that contained the names of some of the crew members. The team visited the site and recovered some human remains.

In February 1993, the government of Vietnam turned over additional remains and a photocopy of more identification media. In October and November a joint team led by Joint Task Force-Full Accounting excavated the suspected crash site where they recovered aircraft wreckage, personal effects and human remains. In 1994 and 1995, Vietnamese citizens and government officials turned over additional remains.

Department of Defense analysts concluded from the distribution of the aircraft wreckage that the C-130 hit a mountainside and that the crew was unaware of the impending crash. Nine parachutes were accounted for among the artifacts recovered, and there are no unresolved live sighting reports associated with this incident.

Analysis of the remains and other evidence by the U.S. Army Central Identification Laboratory Hawaii established the identification of the eleven servicemen.

The U.S. government welcomes and appreciates the cooperation of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam that resulted in the accounting of these servicemen. We hope that such cooperation will bring increased results in the future. Achieving the fullest possible accounting of Americans missing in action is of the highest national priority.

James Randall Williams

Chief Master Sergeant, United States Air Force
James R. Williams Vietnam Wall RUBBING
WILLIAMS, JAMES R
CMSGT US AIR FORCE
VETERAN SERVICE DATES: 03/28/1965 – 12/29/1967
DATE OF BIRTH: 03/28/1945
DATE OF DEATH: 12/29/1967
DATE OF INTERMENT: 11/15/2000
BURIED AT: SECTION 60 SITE 7915
ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY

Gean Preston Clapper

Chief Master Sergeant, United States Air Force
G. P. Clapper Vietnam Wall Rubbing
CLAPPER, GEAN P
CMSGT US AIR FORCE
VETERAN SERVICE DATES: 07/07/1952 – 12/29/1967
DATE OF BIRTH: 07/24/1932
DATE OF DEATH: 12/29/1967
DATE OF INTERMENT: 11/15/2000
BURIED AT: SECTION 60 SITE 7915
ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY

Wayne Alvin Eckley

Chief Master Sergeant, United States Air Force
Wayne A. Eckley Vietnam Wall Rubbing
ECKLEY, WAYNE A
CMSGT US AIR FORCE
VETERAN SERVICE DATES: 05/22/1957 – 12/29/1967
DATE OF BIRTH: 05/22/1936
DATE OF DEATH: 12/29/1967
DATE OF INTERMENT: 11/15/2000
BURIED AT: SECTION 60 SITE 7915
ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY

Edward Joseph Darcy

Chief Master Sergeant, United States Air Force
E. J. Darcy Vietnam Wall Rubbing
DARCY, EDWARD J
CMSGT US AIR FORCE
VETERAN SERVICE DATES: 07/07/1959 – 12/29/1967
DATE OF BIRTH: 06/19/1939
DATE OF DEATH: 12/29/1967
DATE OF INTERMENT: 11/15/2000
BURIED AT: SECTION 60 SITE 7915
ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY

Jack McCrary

Chief Master Sergeant, United States Air Force
Jack McCrary Vietnam Wall RUBBING
MCCRARY, JACK
CMSGT US AIR FORCE
VETERAN SERVICE DATES: 11/30/1955 – 12/29/1967
DATE OF BIRTH: 11/30/1934
DATE OF DEATH: 12/29/1967
DATE OF INTERMENT: 11/15/2000
BURIED AT: SECTION 60 SITE 7915
ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY

Frank C. Parker III

Major, United States Air Force
Frank C. Parker III Vietnam Wall RUBBING
PARKER, FRANK C III
MAJ US AIR FORCE
VETERAN SERVICE DATES: 03/04/1961 – 12/29/1967
DATE OF BIRTH: 03/02/1940
DATE OF DEATH: 12/29/1967
DATE OF INTERMENT: 11/15/2000
BURIED AT: SECTION 60 SITE 7915
ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY

Gordon James Wenaas

Lieutenant Colonel, United States Air Force
Gordon James Wenaas Vietnam Wall Rubbing
WENAAS, GORDON J
LT COL US AIR FORCE
VETERAN SERVICE DATES: 03/02/1952 – 12/29/1967
DATE OF BIRTH: 03/02/1932
DATE OF DEATH: 12/29/1967
DATE OF INTERMENT: 11/15/2000
BURIED AT: SECTION 60 SITE 7915
ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY

Gerald Gordon Van Buren

Lieutenant Colonel, United States Air Force
G. G. Van Buren Vietnam Wall RUBBING
VAN BUREN, GERALD G
LT COL US AIR FORCE
VETERAN SERVICE DATES: 08/08/1955 – 12/29/1967
DATE OF BIRTH: 06/08/1935
DATE OF DEATH: 12/29/1967
DATE OF INTERMENT: 11/15/2000
BURIED AT: SECTION 60 SITE 7915
ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY

Edwin Nelms Osborne, Jr.

Lieutenant Colonel, United States Air Force
E. N. Osborne, Jr. Vietnam Wall RUBBING
OSBORNE, EDWIN N JR
LT COL US AIR FORCE
VETERAN SERVICE DATES: 05/01/1953 – 12/29/1967
DATE OF BIRTH: 05/01/1933
DATE OF DEATH: 12/29/1967
DATE OF INTERMENT: 11/15/2000
BURIED AT: SECTION 60 SITE 7915
ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY

Donald Ellis Fisher

Colonel, United States Air Force
Donald Ellis Fisher Vietnam Wall RUBBING
FISHER, DONALD E
COL US AIR FORCE
VETERAN SERVICE DATES: 05/19/1943 – 12/29/1967
DATE OF BIRTH: 05/19/1924
DATE OF DEATH: 12/29/1967
DATE OF INTERMENT: 11/15/2000
BURIED AT: SECTION 60 SITE 7915
ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY

Charles Peter Claxton

Colonel, United States Air Force
Charles Peter Claxton Vietnam Wall Rubbing
CLAXTON, CHARLES P
COL US AIR FORCE
VETERAN SERVICE DATES: 12/22/1950 – 12/29/1967
DATE OF BIRTH: 12/22/1932
DATE OF DEATH: 12/29/1967
DATE OF INTERMENT: 11/15/2000
BURIED AT: SECTION 60 SITE 7915
ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY

AIR FORCE COL. CHARLES P. CLAXTON; DIED IN VIETNAM WAR PLANE CRASH

December 16, 2000

Late on Dec. 29, 1967, Patricia Claxton received a telephone call from an Air Force officer who told her that her husband had disappeared during a mission in North Vietnam. Thirty-three years would pass before a memorial service marked the end of her long wait for an explanation.

A military burial service was held for Col. Charles P. Claxton, 35, an Air Force pilot and Chicago native, and his 10 fellow crewmembers November 15, 2000, in Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.

What happened to Col. Claxton’s C-130 Hercules plane after it lost radio contact wasn’t learned until a 1992 investigation in a remote area uncovered the plane’s wreckage and the crew’s remains.

“I would say we really hoped up until 15 years ago,” Patricia Claxton said from her home in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. “There was never any indication the plane had crashed or the men had been captured; we didn’t know, but we just hoped we’d receive some positive information.”

Col. Claxton joined the Air Force a year after graduating from Mt. Carmel High School in 1951. He graduated from Officer Candidate School in 1953.

Col. Claxton hoped to attend college with credits he earned in the Air Force, perhaps studying political science, but in August 1967, he was sent to fight in the Vietnam War.

He said goodbye to his wife and five children, whom he had just helped move to Kincheloe Air Force Base in Kinross, Mich.

His daughter Kimberly Samuelson, who was 8 when the family moved, said she remembered her father helping his children with homework, cooking breakfast on weekends and comforting her when she got an allergy shot.”He was a great father,” she said.

Four months after beginning his service in Vietnam, Col. Claxton joined a crew on a special mission over North Vietnam, taking off just after midnight from Nha Trang. Four hours later, crewmembers reported by radio that they were near the Lai Chau province of North Vietnam. They never returned to base.

A search was called off a month later. Then, in 1992, an investigation led by a team from the U.S. and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam found witnesses of the crash–some of whom had identification cards and tags from the crew. The wreckage and remains were recovered.

The U.S. Department of Defense concluded the low-flying C-130 had crashed into a mountainside before the crew could escape. The government spent years identifying the remains.

Mrs. Claxton said the department never determined whether the plane encountered bad weather or enemy fire.

“I remember him as a good and loving person, a very good citizen and a good husband and father,” she said.

In addition to his wife and daughter, Col. Claxton is survived by another daughter, Cheryl Cardamoni; three sons, John, Joseph and James; and seven grandchildren.

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Michael Robert Patterson

Michael Robert Patterson was born in Arlington and is the son of a former officer of the US Army. So it was no wonder that sooner or later his interests drew him to American history and especially to American military history. Many of his articles can be found on renowned portals like the New York Times, Washingtonpost or Wikipedia.

Reviewed by: Michael Howard

AIR FORCE COL. CHARLES P. CLAXTON; DIED IN VIETNAM WAR PLANE CRASH

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