WHAT I CAN DO - I WILL -

The North American T28 Nomad was used throughout Southeast Asia for counterinsurgency missions. The T28's normally flew in two-plane formations for day strikes against previously selected targets or for armed escort of A26 or helicopter operations. During daylight the Nomad usually attacked in a shallow dive, releasing its bombs and recovering at 2,000 feet to avoid small arms fire, for shock effect on the enemy, as well as to lighten the aircraft and increase its maneuverability. Night operations usually consisted of armed reconnaissance by single T28's. At night pilots could dive below 2,000 feet using darkness for concealment as enemy gunners in South Vietnam and Laos did not employ radar.

Long after the T28 had proved too vulnerable to survive the enemy's increasingly accurate antiaircraft fire, T28s served as the principal attack plane of the Royal Lao Air Force and were sometimes flown by Thai volunteers as well. Few T28 losses resulted in missing American personnel.

On 25 December 1967, Capt. Terry T. Koonce was the pilot of a T28 on a mission in Laos. Koonce was a relatively experienced pilot, having graduated from the Air Force Academy in 1961 and gone into flight training following graduation. The Christmas Day mission took Koonce over Khammouane Province, Laos near the Ban Karai pass.

The Ban Karai Pass was one of several passageways through the mountainous border of Vietnam and Laos. American aircraft flying from Thailand to missions over North Vietnam flew through them regularly, and many aircraft were lost. On the Laos side of the border coursed the "Ho Chi Minh Trail", a road heavily travelled by North Vietnamese troops moving materiel and personnel to their destinations through the relative safety of neutral Laos. The return ratio of men lost in and around the passes is far lower than that of those men lost in more populous areas, even though both were shot down by the same enemy and the same weapons. This is partly due to the extremely rugged terrain and resulting difficulty in recovery.

Koonce was at the city of Ban Som Peng when his aircraft was hit by enemy fire and crashed. Whether Koonce was able to bail out of the aircraft is unclear, but he was declared Missing in Action. He is one of nearly 600 Americans lost in Laos during the Vietnam war.

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.