COLWELL, WILLIAM KEVIN
Name: William Kevin Colwell
Rank/Branch: E6/US Air Force
Unit:
Date of Birth: 01 August 1921
Home City of Record: Glencove NY
Date of Loss: 24 December 1965
Country of Loss: Laos
Loss Coordinates: 154800N 1064400E (XC856474)
Status (in 1973): Missing In Action
Category: 4
Acft/Vehicle/Ground: AC47D
Refno: 0222
Other Personnel In Incident: Arden K. Hassenger; Joseph Christiano; Dennis
L. Eilers; Larry C. Thornton; Derrell B. Jeffords (all missing)
Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project with the assistance of one or more
of the following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources,
correspondence with POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews: 01
January 1990. Updated by the P.O.W. NETWORK 1998.
REMARKS: MAYDAY HEARD - SEARCH NEG - J
SYNOPSIS: On December 24, 1965, President Lyndon Johnson announced a
week-long bombing halt on North Vietnam. That same day, an AC47D "Spooky"
gunship was shot down during an armed reconnaissance flight just south of
the city of Ban Bac in Saravane Province, Laos. Planes in the area of the
loss of the plane heard mayday signals, but were unable to establish contact
with the crew.
The Spooky had evolved from the famed "Puff the Magic Dragon" versions of
the Douglas C47. Puff introduced a new principle to air attack in Vietnam.
Troubled by difficulties in conducting nighttime defense, Capt. Ronald Terry
of the U.S. Air Force Aeronautical Systems Division remembered reading about
flying missionaries in Latin America who lowered baskets of supplies on a
rope from a tightly circling airplane. Throughout the series of pylon turns,
the basket remained suspended over a selected point on the ground. Could
this principle be applied to fire from automatic weapons? Tests proved it
could, and could be extremely successful.
Puff's "flare kicker" illuminated the target, then the pilot used a mark on
the window to his left as a gun sight and circled slowly as three
multibarrel 7-62mm machine guns fired 18,000 rounds per minute from the door
and two windows in the port side of the passenger compartment. The aircraft
was called "Puff" after a popular song of the day, and because it resembled
a dragon overhead with flames billowing from its guns. Men on the ground
welcomed the presence of Puff and the later Spooky version, which was
essentially the same as the Puff, because of its ability to concentrate a
heavy dose of defensive fire in a surgically determined area. These aircraft
were extremely successful defending positions in South Vietnam, but proved
unable to survive against the anti-aircraft defenses in Laos.
The Spooky lost in Laos on December 24, 1965 was flown by Col. Derrel B.
Jeffords and Capt. Dennis L. Eilers. The crew aboard the aircraft was Maj.
Joseph Christiano, MSgt. Larry C. Thornton, TSgt. W. Kevin Colwell, and
SSgt. Arden K. Hassenger.
When 591 Americans were released from Vietnam in 1973, the Spooky crew was
not among them. As a matter of fact, no American held in Laos was (or has
been) released. The Lao were not included in negotiations ending American
involvement in the war in Southeast Asia.
In June 1989, Arden Hassenger's wife was informed that a report had been
received saying her husband had been sighted alive in Laos. This report is
one of nearly 10,000 relating to Americans missing in Southeast Asia
received by the U.S. Government since the war ended. Mrs. Hassenger was
unable to sleep to sleep at night wondering and worrying, yet Arden
Hassenger is still missing.
Henry Kissinger predicted in the 50's that future "limited political
engagements" would result, unfortunately, in nonrecoverable prisoners of
war. We have seen this prediction fulfilled in Korea and Vietnam, where
thousands of men and women remain missing, and where ample evidence exists
that many of them (from BOTH wars) are still alive today. The U.S.
Government seems unable (or unwilling) to negotiate their freedom. For
Americans, the "unfortunate" abandonment of military personnel is not
acceptable, and the policy that allows it must be changed before another
generation is left behind in some faraway war.
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