RISSI, DONALD LOUIS
Remains Returned 780823
Name: Donald Louis Rissi
Rank/Branch: O5/US Air Force, pilot
Unit: 340th Bombardment Squadron, Anderson AFB Guam
Date of Birth: 20 March 1931
Home City of Record: Collinsville IL
Date of Loss: December 18 1972
Country of Loss: North Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 21138N 1054247E (WJ740473)
Status (in 1973): Missing in Action
Category: 2
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: B52G
Other Personnel in Incident: Walter L. Ferguson; Robert J. Thomas (both
remains returned); Richard E. Johnson; Richard T. Simpson; Robert G. Certain
(all released POWs)
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 including "Linebacker" by Karl J.
Eschmann. Updated by the P.O.W. NETWORK.
REMARKS: REMS RET MONTG HANOI 780823
SYNOPSIS: Frustrated by problems in negotiating a peace settlement, and
pressured by a Congress and public wanting an immediate end to American
involvement in Vietnam, President Nixon ordered the most concentrated air
offensive of the war - known as Linebacker II - in December 1972. During the
offensive, sometimes called the "Christmas bombings," 40,000 tons of bombs
were dropped, primarily over the area between Hanoi and Haiphong. White
House Press Secretary Ronald Ziegler said that the bombing would end only
when all U.S. POWs were released and an internationally recognized
cease-fire was in force.
On the first day of Linebacker II, December 18, 129 B52s arrived over Hanoi
in three waves, four to five hours apart. They attacked the airfields at Hoa
Lac, Kep and Phuc Yen, the Kinh No complex and the Yen Vien railyards. The
aircraft flew in tight cells of three to maximize the mutual support
benefits of their ECM equipment and flew straight and level to stabilize the
bombing computers and ensure that all bombs fell on the military targets and
not in civilian areas.
The pilots of the early missions reported that "wall-to-wall SAMS"
surrounded Hanoi as they neared its outskirts. The first night of bombing,
December 18, saw the operation's first casualties.
Charcoal 01, a B52G, flown by LtCol. Donald L. Rissi. The crew had been
scheduled to return home to Blytheville AFB, Arkansas, two weeks earlier.
But due to a snowstorm, their replacement crew from Loring AFB, Maine, was
too late in arriving to transition to a combat-ready status. So, instead of
being at home, the Charcoal 01 crew met its tragic fate over North Vietnam.
The crew of the aircraft included its pilot and commander, LTCOL Donald L.
Rissi and crewmen Maj. Richard E. Johnson, the radar navigator; Capt.
Richard T. Simpson, electronics warfare officer; Capt. Robert G. Certain,
the navigator; 1Lt. Robert J. Thomas, the co-pilot; and Sgt. Walter L.
Ferguson, the gunner.
Just seconds to reaching the bomb-release point over the Yen Vien rail
yards, B52G Charcoal 01 was hit simultaneously by two SAMs. Less than a
minute later the aircraft nosed down, crashed and exploded ten miles
northwest of Hanoi. It was the first casualty of the LINEBACKER II
operation, and its fate would be shared by fourteen other crews in the next
eleven nights of combat.
Certain, Simpson and Johnson were captured and shown the bodies of the other
crew members. Certain, Simpson and Johnson were held prisoner in Hanoi until
March 29, 1973, when they were released in Operation Homecoming. Six years
later, the bodies of Rissi, Thomas and Ferguson were returned to U.S.
control by the Vietnamese.
The Christmas Bombings, despite press accounts to the contrary, were of the
most precise the world had seen. Pilots involved in the immense series of
strikes generally agree that the strikes against anti-aircraft and strategic
targets was so successful that the U.S. "could have taken the entire country
of Vietnam by inserting an average Boy Scout troop in Hanoi and marching it
southward."
To achieve this precision bombing, the Pentagon deemed it necessary to
maintain a regular flight path. For many missions, the predictable B52
strikes were anticipated and prepared for by the North Vietnamese. Later,
however, flight paths were altered and attrition all but eliminated any
hostile threat from the ground.
The survival rate of the B52 crews downed was surprisingly high, and many
were released in 1973. Many others were known to survive the crash of the
aircraft, only to disappear. Reports mount that have convinced many
authorities that Americans are still held captive in Southeast Asia.
Although the crew of Charcoal 01 is accounted for, many others involved in
the LINEBACKER operations are not. There is every reason to believe some of
them could be among those still alive today. It's time we found them and
brought them home.
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