FELLENZ, CHARLES RICHARD
REMAINS RETURNED 11/93 IDENTIFIED 10/95

Name: Charles Richard Fellenz
Rank/Branch: E5/US Air Force
Unit: 374th Tactical Airlift Wing, Ubon Airfield, Thailand
Date of Birth: 20 November 1939
Home City of Record: Marshfield WI
Date of Loss: 24 November 1969
Country of Loss: Laos
Loss Coordinates: 154900N 1064600E (YC902495)
Status (in 1973): Missing in Action
Category: 2
Acft/Vehicle/Ground: C130A
Refno: 1530

Other Personnel in Incident: Michael D. Balamonti; Earl C. Brown; Rexford J.
Dewispelaere; Richard O. Ganley; Larry I. Grewell; Peter R. Matthes; Donald
L. Wright (all missing)

Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 15 March 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.

REMARKS:

SYNOPSIS: On November 24, 1969, a C130A departed Ubon Airfield, Thailand on
an operational mission over Laos. The crew aboard the aircraft included Maj.
Michael D. Balamonti (the navigator); Capt. Earl C. Brown; Capt. Richard O.
Ganley; 1Lt. Peter R. Matthes (the copilot); and Sgts. Donald L. Wright;
Larry I. Grewell; and Rexford J. DeWispelaere. Charles R. Fellenz was a
passenger.

While on the mission, near Ban Bac, Savannakhet Province, Laos, the C130 was
observed to be struck by several rounds of 37mm anti-aircraft fire, burst
into flames, crash to the ground, and explode on impact. All onboard were
declared Missing in Action, but due to enemy presence in the area, it was
strongly felt that the enemy could account for them. It was not determined
whether the crew and passenger died or survived the crash of the aircraft.

The men onboard the C130 are among nearly 600 Americans who were lost in
Laos. When Dr. Henry Kissinger negotiated President Nixon's Peace Agreements
in Paris in 1973, ending American involvement in the Vietnam War, the
Americans lost in Laos were forgotten. Kissinger did not negotiate for them,
even though several were known to be Prisoners of War, and some 125 of them
were known to have survived their loss incidents. Furthermore, the Pathet
Lao stated on several occasions that they held "tens of tens" of American
prisoners.

The nearly 600 Americans lost in Laos have never been negotiated for, and
not one American held in Laos was released at the end of the war.

Since the end of the war, nearly 10,000 reports have been received by the
U.S. relating to Americans missing in Southeast Asia. Many authorities
believe that hundreds remain alive today, held captive. Whether the crew of
the C130 could be among them is not known, but it seems certain that there
are compelling questions that need answers. Among them - why did we abandon
the men who served our country? What are we doing to bring them home?

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