WHAT I CAN DO - I WILL -

DEAD - CHARRED BODIES - FBIS

Capt. Douglas K. Martin was the pilot, and Capt. Samuel L. James the weapons system officer on an F4E "Phantom" jet assigned the task of marking a target in Cambodia with a smoke rocket on April 18, 1973. Radar contact was lost with the aircraft during the mission and no radio contact was made with the crew. Wingmen observed no explosion or parachutes, and no emergency radio signal "beepers" were heard. The wingmen did not see the plane go down, but they did observe a new swath cut through dense jungle nearby.

A subsequent 700-square-mile search was conducted for the aircraft. During the search for Martin and James, aerial photographs were taken of a probable crash site which revealed an ejection seat, wing debris and one main landing gear. The Air Force stated that James "is probably a POW according to our intelligence."

A July 8, 1973 report from a South Vietnamese agent who spoke with a refugee described three American prisoners wearing one-piece flight suits who arrived in Kompong Barey Hamlet in Prey Veng Province in southern Cambodia, en route to an unnamed location near Loc Ninh in South Vietnam. The agent contacted a Viet Cong cadre who stated that they would be held at Loc Ninh for future exchange. U.S. officials later denied that the July 8, 1973 sighting report existed, although James' father saw it himself in James' file when in Thailand in October, 1973. Mr. James also spoke with the wingmen. They all agreed that the crew could have survived.

A Cambodian broadcast report stating that the bodies of Martin and James were found "charred" in the plane wreckage, was dismissed in 1973 by the Defense Department as "propaganda," and the family was told not to regard it seriously. Yet, as late as 1980, the "charred bodies" remark remain as data identifiers in Defense Department records, with no further explanation given to the family. James' family has never given up hope that he is still alive, waiting for his country to secure his freedom. His family has worked tirelessly since the day he was shot down to bring him home.

Both Douglas K. Martin and Samuel L. James attended the U.S. Air Force Academy. When shot down, James was wearing a POW bracelet bearing the name of a missing Academy friend, Dennis Pugh.

To read more about the case of Martin and James, visit Martin's bio page at pownetwork.org. There is a wealth of information about the day they were lost, the identification process, and why the familes refuse to accept the government's claim that these two men are now accounted for.

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.