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Remains were returned 03/95 as
"120 bone fragments which cannot be degregated, fragments
too small for DNA testing as it would "destroy the
chips", a dental prostheses, a St. Christopher's medal,
coins, buttons, etc. They say the fragments represent a minimum
of one person, a maximum of two people, yet they feel this is a
full accounting of five men who served our government..."
FROM a letter to the Editor, Rochelle News Leader, March 30,
1995, by Dawn Wyatt, niece of Leroy C. Schaneberg.
REMARKS:
SYNOPSIS: On June 30, 1970, a crew from the 40th
Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron at Udorn Airfield,
Thailand was dispatched to rescue a downed flight crew. Crew
aboard the Sikorsky HH53C "Super Jolly" helicopter
included the pilot, Capt. Leroy C. Schaneberg, crewmembers Major
John W. Goeglein, MSgt. Paul L. Jenkins, SSgt. Marvin E. Bell,
and SSgt. Michael F. Dean.
The members of the 40th Air R & R were trained for both air
and sea recovery, and the big "Super Jolly" was
equipped to airlift both the crew and aircraft out of sticky
situations.
The downed and injured pilot was located in Savannakhet Province,
Laos, about
two kilometers south of Bang Tang. The HH53C penetrated the area,
known to be hostile, in an attempt to rescue the pilot, but was
forced away by hostile ground fire. A second attempt was made,
but the helicopter was hit by hostile fire, caught on fire, went
out of control and crashed. The Air Force states it received
evidence on July 4, 1970, that the crew was dead, but that
evidence is not specifically described, and no remains
identifiable as Bell, Dean, Goeglein, Schaneberg, or Jenkins have
been recovered. Schaneberg received the Air Force Cross for
extraordinary heroism as the aircraft commander on this rescue
mission.
On the same day, Capt. Williams S. Sanders was flying an OV10A
Bronco southeast of Khe Sanh at a point where Laos veers north to
intrude on South Vietnam. His aircraft was shot down just inside
Laos, not far from the location of the downed helicopter. The
Bronco was generally used for marking targets, armed
reconnaissance and forward air control, so the nature of Capt.
Sanders' mission and its precise relation to the mission of the
Super Jolly from Udorn is unknown. The crew of the helicopter was
numerically listed missing before the OV10, so it is does not
seem likely that the helicopter was assisting the observation
aircraft, but as no other aircraft is missing on that day in that
area, either the downed pilot was Sanders or the pilot was
rescued by other
means.
Unfortunately, for families of men missing in Laos, information
is difficult to obtain. Twenty and twenty-five year old records
remain classified and details obscured. Much of this information
was classified to distort American
involvement in a now well known "secret" war in Laos.
Since the war's end in 1973, thousands of reports have been
received by the U.S. Government regarding Americans still in
captivity in Southeast Asia. Many of the reports involve
Americans in Laos, where nearly 600 Americans went missing, and
none released despite public statements by the Pathet Lao that
"tens of tens" of
Americans were being held there.
Henry Kissinger predicted, in the 50's, that future "limited
political engagements" would result, unfortunately, in
nonrecoverable prisoners of war. We have seen this prediction
fulfilled in Korea and Vietnam, where thousands of men and women
remain missing, and where ample evidence exists that many of them
(from BOTH wars) are still alive today.
For Americans, the "unfortunate" abandonment of
military personnel is not acceptable, and the policy that allows
it must be changed before another generation is left behind in
some faraway war.
As long as even
one American remains alive, held against his will, we must do
everything possible to bring him home alive.
POW/MIA Data & Bios supplied by the P.O.W. NETWORK Skidmore, MO. USA