| The Incident
CAPT Samuel B. Cornelius was
the pilot of an F4E Phantom assigned a strike mission in Cambodia
on June 16, 1973. His electronic weapons officer on the flight
was CAPT John J. Smallwood. Over the target area, the F4 was hit
by hostile fire and crashed. No parachutes were seen, and no
emergency beeper signals were heard indicating that the crew
ejected safely. The official word was that their survival was
unlikely.
Few American planes were shot
down in Cambodia during this time period. Peace documents had
been signed in Paris ending hostilities in Vietnam in January of
that year, but strikes in Cambodia continued. Another F-4 piloted
by Douglas Martin and with backseater Samuel L. James had been
shot down April 18. One of the crew of an HH53C helicopter, MSGT
David V. McLeod, Jr., went missing on June 14, 1973. These were
the only Americans missing during the spring and summer of 1973
in Cambodia.
In July 1973, a South
Vietnamese agent reported talking to a refugee who had seen three
Americans dressed in flight uniforms in captivity near Kompong
Barey Hamlet in Prey Veng Province. (Note that all events
described are occurring AFTER the war with Vietnam "ended" and
591 American POWs were released from Vietnam.) The agent was able
to make contact with a Communist cadre who said the three were
airmen who had been downed in July 1973. The cadre went on to say
that they were being taken to Loc Ninh (South Vietnam) to be held
for exchange at a later date. No exchange ever occurred. It is
assumed, since these three aircraft are the only ones missing in
Cambodia, that this report pertains to three of the five
Americans involved. Nothing has been heard of the five
since.
The United States did not
bargain or negotiate with Cambodia for any prisoners held there.
U.S. bombing of Cambodia continued until August 1973. Any who
were lucky enough to return had earlier been moved from the
border areas of Cambodia into Vietnam and released from Vietnam.
Evidence points to many Americans being moved to Vietnam from
Laos and Cambodia and held beyond the end of the war.
Because of the genocide
perpetrated upon Cambodia by Pol Pot in the mid-70's, the chances
of survival are decreased significantly for anyone still held
prisoner of war in Cambodia. However, we owe our best efforts to
those men lost in Cambodia, and in all of Southeast Asia to seek
their release if alive, and determine their fates if
deceased.
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