ank/Branch: 03/US Army Special Forces
Unit: Mobile Launch team 3, Task Force 1 Advisory Group, assigned to USARV
TAG TFIAEN TSH
Date of Birth: 10 December 1938 (East Chicago In)
Home City of Record: East Chicago Indiana
Date of Loss: 06 July 1971
Country of Loss: Laos
Loss Coordinates: 144700N 1071700E (YB460352)
Status (in 1973): MISSING IN ACTION
Category:4
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: OV10A
Refno: 1758
Other Personnel In Incident: Daniel W. Thomas (MISSING)

REMARKS:

Source: Compiled 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 in 1998.

SYNOPSIS: In 1971, MACV-SOG's Command and Control North, Central and South
were redesignated as Task Force Advisory Elements 1, 2 and 3, respectively. These
titular changes had little initial impact on the actual activities. Their missions were still
quite sensitive and highly classified. each task force was composed of 244 Special Forces
and 781 indigenous commandos, and their reconnaissance teams remained actively engaged
in cross-border intelligence collection and interdiction operations. The USARV TAG
(Training Advisory Group) supported the USARV Special Missions Advisors. SMAG
formed at Nha Trang from former personnel from B-53, the MACV Rcondo School cadre,
CCN and CCS to train the South Vietnamese Special Missions Force teams drawn down
from LLDB and Ranger units.

On July 6, 1971, U.S. Army Capt. Donald G. "Butch" Carr was aboard an Air Force
OV10A Bronco aircraft flown by U.S. LT. Daniel W. Thomas when the aircraft
disappeared 15 miles inside Laos west of Ben Het.

The aircraft had been on a visual reconnaissance mission over Central Laos when
it was lost. Thomas' plane was detailed out of the 23rd Tactical Aerial Surveillance
Squadron and bore the tail number of 67-14634.

NVA forces,
because whenever the Bronco appeared overhead , an air strike seemed certain to
follow. Although the glassed-in cabin could become uncomfortably warm, it provided
special visibility. The two-man crew had armor protection and could use machine guns
and bombs to attack, as well as rockets to mark targets for fighter bombers. This
versatility enabled the plane to fly armed reconnaissance missions, in addition to
serving as a vehicle for forward air controllers.

At 1530 hours, Thomas radioed to the Army support facility that he was in his target
area, but that he was unable to observe because of the weather conditions. this was
the last known radio contact. Thomas and Carr were due to depart the area at 1700
hours, and should have radioed then. Search efforts were conducted through July 10,
with no results.

A ground reconnaissance team later reported hearing an impact or explosion at 1600
hours on July 6 in their vacinity, but did not report seeing the aircraft. A source reported
that in early July 1971, he had seen an American POW in that area. The source learned
from a guard that the POW was a pilot of an OV10 that had been downed a week prior.
This information was thought to possibly correlate to either Carr or Thomas.

Carr and Thomas became 2 of nearly 600 Americans who disappeared in Laos during the
Vietnam War. Although Pathet Lao leaders stressed that they held tens of tens" of
American prisoners, no American held in Laos was ever released. In America's haste to
leave Southeast Asia, it abandoned some of its finest men. Since the end of the war,
thousands of reports have been received indicating that hundreds of Americans are still
held captive.

In seeming disregard for the Americans either held or having been murdered by the Pathet
Lao, by 1989, the US and the Lao have devised a working plan for U.S. to provide Laos with
humanitarian and economic aid leading toward ultimate full diplomatic and trade relations
while Laos allows the excavation of military crash sites at sporadic intervals. In America's
haste to return to Southeast Asia, we are again abandoning our men. What must Carr and
Thomas, should they be among those still alive, be thinking of us?