WHAT I CAN DO - I WILL -

I.R. #22370432 73 - DEAD

On 21 December 1972, the crew of a Lockheed AC130A gunship named "Thor," tail number 56-0490 and call sign "Spectre 17," departed Ubon, Thailand on an interdiction mission to interrupt enemy movement along the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos. Its crew of 16 was comprised of Capt. Harry R. Lagerwall, pilot; Major Francis A. Walsh, Jr., fighter pilot who was listed as an additional crewman for this mission; Capt. Stanley N. Kroboth, co-pilot; then Capt. Thomas T. Hart III, table navigator; TSgt. James R. Fuller, flight engineer; TSgt. Robert T. Elliott, aerial gunner; A1C Charles F. Fenter, aerial gunner; A1C Rollie K. Reaid, aerial gunner; 1st Lt. George D. Macdonald, sensor operator; 1st Lt. Delma Dickens, sensor operator, 1st Lt. Robert L. Liles, sensor operator; Major Paul O. Meder, infrared sensor operator; TSgt. John Q. Winningham, illuminator operator; TSgt. Carl E. Stevens, illuminator operator; TSgt. Richard Williams, aerial gunner; and Capt. Joel R. Birch, sensor operator. With the exception of Major Walsh who was a member of the 497th Tactical Fighter Squadron, all members of this aircrew were assigned to the 16th Special Operations Squadron. Both Squadrons were stationed at Ubon Airbase, Thailand.

During the flight to the target, Spectre 17 inexplicably broke altitude descending to a lower level according to crewmen aboard other gunships taking part in the same mission, and was hit by enemy ground fire. After evaluating the amount of battle damage sustained by Thor, the decision was made to attempt to return to base. After 10 minutes of stable, level flight, fuel accumulated ankle deep in the cargo area igniting an explosion that severely damaged the aircraft, but did not cause it to disintegrate. According to reports provided by other aircrews who monitored radio communications between the crew of Spectre 17, along with communications between aircraft, none of the 16 crewmen were injured by the ground fire that initially damaged the gunship. The crewmen were preparing for a possible bailout by putting on their parachutes, and those men not necessary for flying it were moving to the rear of the aircraft. The jump bell was heard over the headsets of those monitoring communications between the aircraft 5 to 10 seconds before Spectre 17 exploded. Further, once the men hit the ground, many emergency beepers were heard "going off all over the place."

TSgt. Richard Williams parachuted just before the explosion and TSgt. Carl E. Stevens did the same immediately afterward. Both men evaded enemy patrols and were rescued hours later. According to US intelligence reports that vary somewhat in content in as much as each gives bits and pieces of the story, once Carl Stevens and Richard Williams were rescued - and within 24 hours of the incident - the crash site was visited by either friendly indigenous forces and/or a US Search and Rescue (SAR) team who found and photographed 2 piles of bloody bandages and 5 deployed parachutes. The partial remains of Capt. Joel R. Birch, which consisted of part of one arm and hand, were recovered and these "remains" were later identified through fingerprints. He was listed as Killed in Action/Body Recovered because of this positive identification. Other than TSgt. Stevens and TSgt. Williams who were rescued, no other crewmen could be located.

Based on the physical examination of the crash site, Thor cut a path of destruction through jungle vegetation, which is consistent with a long, horizontal glide flight path to the jungle floor rather than a crater/hole in the jungle floor caused by a relatively vertical, rapid decent. The crash occurred in the rugged jungle covered mountains just a few hundred meters from the village of Nong Song Hong, Champassak Province, Laos; approximately 13 miles due east of Xe Don Lou River, which empties into the Mekong River on the west side of the town of Pakse, some 25 miles southwest of the crash site.

According to a 1973 Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) intelligence report, in early 1973, a US satellite photographed the roughly 10-foot high numbers "1973" or "1573" and the initials "TH" stomped out in elephant grass some 200 miles north of the crash site. No matter how the numbers and letters are examined, experts believe they can only be connected with the crew of Spectre 17, and almost certainly belong to Tom Hart. For example: the internal call sign and name of that aircraft was THOR. The only man aboard that aircraft with those initials was Tom Hart. Further, the #1 crew position on the AC130 and MC130 aircraft is the table navigator rather than the pilot - Tom Hart's position. The number "573" was on the crew compartment's window on the right side of that aircraft. The year was 1973 when the signal was made and photographed. That satellite photograph was later evaluated by other intelligence experts who stated that the letters were not stamped out in elephant grass, which would have indicated it was made by someone passing through the area. They determined those letters and numbers were made by planting Manioc plants to form the signal, which shows permanency.

From 1981 to 1984, the Special Forces Detachment in Korea was charged by President Reagan with the responsibility of collecting live POW information throughout Southeast Asia. "SFDK" was commanded by Major Mark Smith, he himself a returned POW from the Vietnam War. Through his efforts, and those of team Intelligence Sergeant Mel McIntire, an agent net of 50 agents was established, specifically in Laos. The result of this intelligence net resulted in Major Smith compiling a list of some 26 American POWs by name and captivity location, with Thomas T. Hart III and George D. Macdonald being two of them. SFDK collected information that indicated other members of this aircrew were also alive, although that data was not as conclusive as the information on Hart and Macdonald.

In April 1984, Major Smith received a message from one of his agents specifying that on 11 May three US Prisoners of War would be brought to a given location on the Lao/Thai border. The only prerequisite was that an American be on the Thailand side of the border to receive the men. When this information was reported up his chain of command, Major Smith's team was ordered not to leave Korea, to destroy all documents pertaining to LIVE POWs and they were sent back to the United States 6 months early. This documented information was provided to the United States Senate Veterans Affairs Committee in sworn testimony on 28 January 1986.

In September 1982, 10 years after the crash, a private sector delegation of family members were allowed to visit the crash site unofficially. They did not know ahead of time if they would be allowed to go to a crash site, or which one. Ironically, Tom Hart's wife was part of this delegation. This site is extremely difficult to reach unlike literally dozens of other crash sites in the immediate area. Once there, they confirmed through first-hand observation the vegetation was visibly thinner than in the surrounding jungle consistent with a glide-path landing. There was no crater which would be expected if the flight path had been steep. There were two small depressions consistent with the location of the engines. Between the 2 depressions was a shallow "trench-like depression" which was consistent with the aircraft fuselage.

In February, 1985, a joint US/Lao excavation of the AC130A crash site was conducted. A large number of small bone fragments and a few teeth, which had obviously been subjected to intense heat and with a total weight of only 6 pounds, were found. A 4 1/2 month examination of these bones and teeth resulted in the US Government's Central Identification Laboratory in Hawaii (CIL-HI) reporting the "positive identification" of remains for all 13 crew members still missing. None of the bones or teeth were attributed to the missing portion of Capt. Birch.

The Hart, Macdonald and Fuller families had an independent study of their men's remains done by a 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." Later investigation of the CIL revealed that eleven of the thirteen positive identifications could not have been made scientifically. In January 1987, because of Civil Court action, the Defense Department rescinded the identification of Tom Hart's and George Macdonald's remains. Other families of this crew sought the Court's assistance in fighting this travesty, however, officially the USG considers all 13 men to be "accounted for."

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.

Biographical and incident of loss information was obtained from either POW/NET and/or Task Force Omega, Inc (unless otherwise noted). Additional information may be found via remembrances at The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund or The Virtual Wall Vietnam Veterans Memorial.