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Name: Robert
Thomas Elliott |
Remains Recovered in Crash Site Excavation -
Positive ID Accepted
Other Personnel In Incident: Rollie Reaid; George D. MacDonald;
John Winningham; Francis Walsh; James R. Fuller; Delma E.
Dickens; Robert L. Liles; Harry Lagerwall; Paul Meder; Thomas T.
Hart; Stanley Kroboth; Charles Fenter (all missing/remains
returned --see text); Joel R. Birch (remains returned); Richard
Williams, Carl E. Stevens (rescued).
Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 15 March 1990 with the
assistance of one or more of the following: raw data from U.S.
Government agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA families,
published sources, interviews.
REMARKS: I.R. #22370432 73 - DEAD
SYNOPSIS: An AC130A gunship, "Spectre 17",
flown by Capt. Harry R. Lagerwall, departed Ubon Airbase,
Thailand on an interdiction mission to interrupt enemy cargo
movements along the Ho Chi Minh Trail on December 21, 1972. The
crew onboard numbered 16. During the flight to the target, the
aircraft was hit by ground fire and after 10 minutes of level
flight, the fuel exploded. Two of the crew, Richard Williams and
Carl E. Stevens, bailed out safely and were subsequently rescued
hours later. The partial body of Joel Birch (an arm) was later
recovered some distance away from the crash site.
Heat-sensitive equipment which would pinpoint the location of
human beings in the jungles was used to search for the rest of
the crew with no success. It was assumed that the missing crewmen
were either dead or were no longer in the area.
According to intelligence reports, several piles of bloody
bandages and 5 deployed parachutes were seen and photographed at
the crash site. Also, later requests through the Freedom of
Information Act revealed a photo of what appeared to be the
initials "TH" stomped in the tall elephant grass near
the crash site. A number of reports have been received which
indicate Tom Hart, if not others, was still alive as late as
1988.
In the early 1980's a delegation comprised in part of several
POW/MIA family members visited the site of the aircraft crash in
Laos. Mrs. Anne Hart found material on the ground in the area
which she believed to be bone fragment. She photographed the
material and turned it over to the U.S. Government.
In February, 1985, a joint excavation of the crash site was done
by the U.S. and Laos from which a large number of small bone
fragments were found. Analysis by the U.S. Army's Central
Identification Laboratory (CIL) in Hawaii reported the positive
identification of all 13 missing crewmembers. Some critics dubbed
this identificatin "Voodoo Forensics."
Mrs. Hart was immediately skeptical. She was concerned that the
positive identification of all 13 missing men onboard the
aircraft had seemed too convenient. She was further concerned
that among the remains said to be those of her husband, she found
the bone fragment which she had herself found at the crash site
location several years before. She believed this was too much of
a coincidence.
Anne Hart had an independent analysis of the seven tiny fragments
of bone which the government said constituted the remains of her
husband. Dr. Michael Charney of Colorado State University, an
internationally respected Board Certified Forensic Anthropologist
with nearly 50 years of experience in anthropology, conducted the
study.
"It is impossible," Charney wrote in his report,
"to determine whether these fragments are from LTC Hart or
any other individual, whether they are from one individual or
several, or whether they are even from any of the crew members of
the aircraft in study."
Mrs. Hart refused to accept the remains and sued the government,
challenging its identification procedures. Her challenge produced
additional criticism of CIL and the techniques it uses in
identifying remains. Some scientists, including Charney, charged
that CIL deliberately misinterpreted evidence in order to
identify remains. They said the Army consistently drew
unwarranted conclusions about height, weight, sex and age from
tiny bone fragments. Eleven of the "positive"
identifications made on the AC130 crew were determined to be
scientifically impossible.
"These are conclusions just totally beyond the means of
normal identification, our normal limits and even our abnormal
limits," said Dr. William Maples, curator of physical
anthropology at Florida State Museum.
Among the egregious errors cited by Charney was a piece of pelvic
bone that the laboratory mistakenly said was a part of a skull
bone and was used to identify Chief Master Sgt. James R. Fuller.
The Reaid ID had been made based on bits of upper arm and leg
bones and a mangled POW bracelet said to be like one Reaid wore.
The MacDonald ID had been made based on the dental records for a
single tooth.
Mrs. Hart won her suit against the government. Her husband's
identification, as well as that of George MacDonald, was
rescinded. The Government no longer claimed that the
identifications were positive. However, these two men were listed
as "accounted for."
Mrs. Hart's suit on behalf of her husband made it U.S. Government
policy for a family to be given the opportunity to seek outside
confirmation of any identification of remains said to be their
loved ones. Mrs. Hart also believed that the suit was successful
in keeping her husband's file open. Reports were still being
received related to him.
In 1988, the Air Force forwarded a live sighting report of Tom
Hart to Mrs. Hart. The Air Force had concluded the report was
false or irrelevant because Tom Hart was "accounted
for." Mrs. Hart again went to court to try and ensure that
her husband was not abandoned if, indeed, he is still alive. She
wanted him put back on the "unaccounted for" list.
In early March, 1990, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals
overturned the lower court decision that had ruled the U.S.
Government erred in identifying bone fragments as being the
remains of Thomas Hart. The appellate court ruled that the
government is free to use "its discretion" in handling
the identification of victims of war and that courts should not
second-guess government decisions on when to stop searching for
soldiers believed to be killed in action.
The court also denied Mrs. Hart's request to have her husband
returned to the "unaccounted for" list. "The
government must make a practical decision at some point regarding
when to discontinue the search for personnel," the court
said in its ruling.
Most Americans would make the practical decision to serve their
country in war, if asked to do so. Even though there is evidence
that some of this crew did not die in the crash of the aircraft,
the U.S. Government has made the "practical decision,"
and obtained the support of the Justice system, to quit looking
for them.
How can we allow our government to close the books on men who
have not been proven dead whose biggest crime is serving their
country? If one or more of them are among the hundreds many
believe are still alive in captivity, what must they be thinking
of us?
Knowing one could be so callously abandoned, how many will serve
when next asked to do so?
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