SINGLETON, DANIEL EVERETT
Name: Daniel Everett Singleton
Rank/Branch: O2/US Air Force
Unit: 469th Tactical Fighter Squadron
Date of Birth: 08 March 1943
Home City of Record: Akron OH
Date of Loss: 26 January 1969
Country of Loss: Laos
Loss Coordinates: 163700N 1061300E (XD297373)
Status (in 1973): Missing in Action
Category: 3
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: F4E
Refno: 1366
Other Personnel in Incident: Russell K. Utley (missing)
Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 01 September 1990 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: The Phantom, used by Air Force, Marine and Navy air wings, served
a multitude of functions including fighter-bomber and interceptor, photo and
electronic surveillance. The two man aircraft was extremely fast (Mach 2),
and had a long range (900 - 2300 miles, depending on stores and mission
type). The F4 was also extremely maneuverable and handled well at low and
high altitudes. Most pilots considered it one of the "hottest" planes
around.
Maj. Russell K. Utley was a pilot and 1Lt. Daniel E. Singleton the
electronics warfare officer of an F4E attached to the 409th Tactical Fighter
Squadron at Korat Airbase, Thailand. On January 26, 1969, the two were
assigned an operational mission which took them over Savannakhet Province,
Laos.
When the aircraft was about 5 miles southwest of the city of Sepone, it was
hit by hostile fire and crashed. Pilots of other aircraft observed no
parachutes leaving the aircraft, and no emergency beeper signals were
detected. There was the chance the two ejected unseen, and they were
classified Missing in Action.
Nearly 600 Americans were lost in Laos during the Vietnam war. Although the
numbers actually termed "prisoner of war" are quite low, this can be
explained by the blanket of security surrounding the "secret war" the U.S.
waged in Laos. To protect the ruse that we "were not in Laos," details of
many loss incidents were "rearranged" to show a loss or casualty in South
Vietnam. Only a handful of publicly-exposed cases were ever acknowledged
POW, even though scores of pilots and ground personnel were known to have
been alive and well at last contact, thus increasing the chance they were
captured alive.
The Lao communist faction, the Pathet Lao, stated on several occasions that
they held "tens of tens" of American prisoners, but the Pathet Lao were not
included in the Paris Peace agreements ending American involvement in the
war. As a consequence, no American POWs held in Laos were negotiated for.
Not one American held in Laos has ever been released. They were abandoned to
the enemy.
Reports continue to be received that Americans are alive today, being held
captive. Whether Singleton and Utley are among them is not known. What is
certain, however, is that they deserve than the abandonment they received by
the country they proudly served.
Russell K. Utley was promoted to the rank of Colonel and Daniel E. Singleton
to the rank of Major during the period they were maintained missing.
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