"It is better to have lived one day as a lion than one thousand days as a sheep." On 18 Feb 1970, Captain Thomas C. Daffron and 1LT Charles F. Morley, both of the 557th Tactical Fighter Squadron at Cam Ranh Bay, were assigned an operational mission over the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos. Daffron served as the pilot, while Morley flew as navigator - the "guy in back." During the mission, the crew of the second aircraft in the flight reported seeing a large fireball erupt approximately one mile east of the target area. There were no responses to the search and rescue radio calls and no emergency beeper signals were detected. Four days of additional search and rescue operations met with negative results. Because there was no clear evidence that the two men were dead, they were placed in MIA status. In May of 1993 a joint U.S./Laos team interviewed several villagers in Khammouan Province who provided details about a nearby aircraft crash. Following the interview, the team was led to the crash site where they found wreckage and pilot-related items consistent with an F-4 crash. In July and August of 1995 a second joint team excavated the crash site surveyed in 1993. The team recovered human remains and crew-related items. A third joint team completed the excavation in October of 1995 recovering additional human remains and crew-related items. On 21 July 1999, the identification of Captain Daffron's remains was announced and he was returned to his family for burial. From the POW Network

 

The sponsor of this memorial wishes to remain anonymous. E-mail address is not available. 11 Jul 2001

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