CONSOLVO, JOHN WADSWORTH JR.

Name: John Wadsworth Consolvo, Jr.
Rank/Branch: O3/US Marine Corps
Unit: Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 212, 1st Brigade, MAG 24
Date of Birth: 08 January 1944
Home City of Record: Ft. Belvoir VA
Date of Loss: 07 May 1972
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 164800N 1065700E (YD010555)
Status (in 1973): Missing In Action
Category: 2
Acft/Vehicle/Ground: F4J BuNo #155576
Refno: 1845
Other Personnel In Incident: James J. Castonguay, successfully ejectected

Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 01 April 1991 from one or more of
the following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence
with POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews. Updated by the P.O.W.
NETWORK 1998 with information from Steven P. Albright.

REMARKS:

SYNOPSIS: Capt. John W. Consolvo was on a combat mission out of Da Nang,
South Vietnam when his aircraft was hit by ground fire as he pulled off
target. He flew the aircraft about 18 miles to a safer bail-out area before
the craft became uncontrollable. Although Consolvo's mission was in South
Vietnam near the DMZ, the ground fire that struck his aircraft came from
Laos.

Consolvo radioed that the aircraft was incapacitated and ordered his radar
intercept officer, CWO James J. Castonguay, to eject. The officer
successfully reached the ground, was rescued after 19 hours and returned to
Da Nang.

The F4 crashed 3-4 miles from the location the RIO landed, in enemy
territory (probably just inside Laos). Although the RIO did not see his
pilot eject, he believed he could have easily ejected and probably did. The
wingman and forward air controller on the mission did not see him eject, but
they had been unable to keep the plane constantly in sight.

John Consolvo flew over 150 combat missions on his first tour of Vietnam. He
was into his second tour when he was shot down on May 7, 1972. He had been
in the Marine Corps since 1966.

If John Consolvo was unfortunate enough to be apprehended by the Pathet Lao,
he is among nearly 600 Americans who disappeared without trace. The Pathet
Lao stated on several occasions that they held "tens of tens" of American
prisoners, yet not one man held in Laos was ever released - or negotiated
for. Circumstances surrounding his crash indicate that the Vietnamese or Lao
could account for his fate - alive or dead. John Consolvo does not deserve
the abandonment he has received by the country he proudly served.

John W. Consolvo, Jr. graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1966.

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