SANDERS, WILLIAMS STEPHEN
Name: Williams Stephen Sanders
Rank/Branch: O3/US Air Force
Unit:
Date of Birth: 09 April 1943
Home City of Record: Winthrop ME
Date of Loss: 30 June 1970
Country of Loss: Laos
Loss Coordinates: 164858N 1063138E (XD616601)
Status (in 1973): Killed/Body Not Recovered
Category: 2
Acft/Vehicle/Ground: OV10A
Refno: 1644
Other Personnel In Incident: Marvin E. Bell; Michael F. Dean; Paul L.
Jenkins; John W. Goeglein; Leroy C. Schaneberg (all missing from a nearby
HH53C)
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 June 30, 1970, a crew from the 40th Aerospace Rescue and
Recovery Squadron at Udorn Airfield, Thailand was dispatched to rescue a
downed flight crew. Crew aboard the Sikorsky HH53C "Super Jolly" helicopter
included the pilot, Capt. Leroy C. Schaneberg, crewmembers Major John W.
Goeglein, MSgt. Paul L. Jenkins, SSgt. Marvin E. Bell, and SSgt. Michael F.
Dean.
The members of the 40th Air R & R were trained for both air and sea
recovery, and the big "Super Jolly" was equipped to airlift both the crew
and aircraft out of sticky situations.
The downed and injured pilot was located in Savannakhet Province, Laos,
about two kilometers south of Bang Tang. The HH53C penetrated the area,
known to be hostile, in an attempt to rescue the pilot, but was forced away
by hostile ground fire. A second attempt was made, but the helicopter was
hit by hostile fire, caught on fire, went out of control and crashed. The
Air Force states it received evidence on July 4, 1970, that the crew was
dead, but that evidence is not specifically described, and no remains
identifiable as Bell, Dean, Goeglein, Schaneberg, or Jenkins have been
recovered. Schaneberg received the Air Force Cross for extraordinary heroism
as the aircraft commander on this rescue mission.
On the same day, Capt. Williams S. Sanders was flying an OV10A Bronco
southeast of Khe Sanh at a point where Laos veers north to intrude on South
Vietnam. His aircraft was shot down just inside Laos, not far from the
location of the downed helicopter. The Bronco was generally used for marking
targets, armed reconnaissance and forward air control, so the nature of
Capt. Sanders' mission and its precise relation to the mission of the Super
Jolly from Udorn is unknown. The crew of the helicopter was numerically
listed missing before the OV10, so it is does not seem likely that the
helicopter was assisting the observation aircraft, but as no other aircraft
is missing on that day in that area, either the downed pilot was Sanders or
the pilot was rescued by other means.
Unfortunately, for families of men missing in Laos, information is difficult
to obtain. Twenty and twenty-five year old records remain classified and
details obscured. Much of this information was classified to distort
American involvement in a now well known "secret" war in Laos.
Since the war's end in 1973, thousands of reports have been received by the
U.S. Government regarding Americans still in captivity in Southeast Asia.
Many of the reports involve Americans in Laos, where nearly 600 Americans
went missing, and none released despite public statements by the Pathet Lao
that "tens of tens" of Americans were being held there.
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.
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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