REMARKS: NO RAD CNTCT - POS DED FBIS – J

SYNOPSIS: Maj. George W. Jensen was the pilot of an AC47 aircraft which departed Ubon Air Base, Thailand on an armed visual reconnaissance mission over Laos on May 15, 1966. His crew that day consisted of Maj. Lavern G. Reilly, spare pilot; Capt. Marshall L. Tapp, co-pilot; 1Lt. George W. Thompson, navigator; SSgt. James A. Preston, loadmaster; Sgt. James E. Williams, flight engineer; Airman 1st Class Kenneth D. McKenney and Sgt. William L. Madison, gunners.

At 1745 hours, Jensen radioed his position, and again at 2100 hours, Jensen radioed situation normal, with no position given, nor was the target area specified. The aircraft's last location was over the Laotian panhandle about 15 miles due east of the city of Ban Muong Sen in Savannakhet Province.

When the aircraft failed to return to the base as scheduled, an aerial search was conducted during the daylight hours of May 16, with negative results. The aircraft was not found, and no evidence of the crew surfaced.

The crew of the AC47 is among nearly 600 Americans lost in Laos during the war with Vietnam. Although the numbers of men actually termed "prisoner of war" are quite low, this can be explained in understanding the blanket of security surrounding the "secret war" the U.S. waged in Laos. To protect the public perception 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. As thousands of reports continue to flow in regarding Americans still captive in Southeast Asia, the fates of the crew of the AC47 become more intriguing. It is entirely possible, with no evidence to the contrary, that they survived to be captured. Whether they survived or not, they were abandoned to the enemy.

Questions asked to Amanda Kidd:

QUESTION:

Can you share with us a few of your memories of James while he was growing up or prior to his military service?

ANSWER:

Our family could fill volumes with our memories, but there are three in particular that stand out... Most importantly, we remember James' love and loyalty to God... to his home... and to his family.

We fondly remember his love for music... It's one of the "pleasures" of life that seems to be hereditary in all of our family, but James' talent was special~ He was never more at home in this skill than when he was directing the choir at the small, country church that our family has attended for generations.

James' love for God was reflected in everything that he did... And his wife Gervyace, who still waits for him,... shares his faith and it has been carried on in his three children who so lovingly follow in his footsteps.

When he joined the Air Force in 1959, he took that faith with him... along with his love for his country and the assurance that his family would be here for him when he returned.

The last memory that we have of James is the day that he left for Vietnam in 1965, when his youngest daughter, Melinda, was only 3 months old. He picked her up and shed tears as he held her closely in his arms... assuring her that he'd be back home to stay as soon as he could.

It saddens me and warms my heart simultaneously to think of the words that I've heard his mother speak, so often through tears of her own, that are brought about by love and by memories of happier times~ Memories of a son who was taken away too soon: "The main thing that gets me through this," she says, "is knowing that James was a Christian~ He loved God~ and wherever he is, I know that God is watching over him."

James' loss runs deep in all of us, but of all of the things that could be mentioned here by which our family could remember him... I can say with complete certainty that his love for God... for his family... and for his country are the things by which he would most want to be remembered~ And he is.

QUESTION:

How did you become personally involved with the POW/MIA issue?

ANSWER:

Having had this issue touch my family personally, it might be more clearly explained by saying that it has been a part of me and of all of us for so long that it has now become a part of our identities from which we're no longer separable.

Being from a family whose love and heritage run very deep, I've always shared in the happiness as well as the heartache of both my immediate and extended family. We've had our share of both joy and sorrow... And our loss of James on May 15, 1966 in an aircraft incident over Laos has left our family without solid answers to his fate and has been an enormous part of the heartache.

For 34 years, I've "lived" this loss with my family through the daily uncertainty that has become a constant presence in all of us.

I would say that I first began to step forward and to become publicly vocal in the POW/MIA issue myself around 16 years ago.

As a freelance journalist and former radio announcer, I gradually became the "public voice" of our family due to my affiliation with the media and through other contacts who have been immensely helpful in extending POW/MIA awareness~ Not only on behalf of James~ but on behalf of the issue as a whole.

In spite of my constant (and often unsuccessful) struggle to maintain "objectivity" from a journalist's perspective, I'm extremely thankful that this means of public communication has provided many valuable outlets for awareness and self-expression that our family would otherwise not have had.

I'm constantly learning and growing along with the changes in the POW/MIA issue in an effort to remain current so that I can see more clearly the areas in which I can most effectively make a difference.

It's become quite a struggle recently for me to see beyond the present situation now taking place regarding James and the others who were lost aboard their aircraft, "Spooky 10"~ But the strength to stand undaunted in the face of the odds that the government now wishes to place before us has become our family's primary goal~ In spite of the obstacles that we now face, such odds have only strengthened our determination to learn the truth~ as well as having given us all the more "ammunition" to fight back with.

QUESTION:

What information has the Government given to you about the status of James' case?

ANSWER:

As the situation currently stands, our family is facing a terribly disheartening situation at the present time. Sadly, we aren't the first to face this experience.

The government has now decided to place James' case~ as well as the cases of all who were involved in his loss incident (Case 0339)~ in a permanently inactive status which will remove them from the national POW/MIA list of missing service personnel~ Consequently, it will prematurely place them in the category of those who are now considered to be "accounted for" from the war in Southeast Asia.

This decision was made without the repatriation of identifiable human remains as adequate evidence of their deaths~ while allowing countless evidence of possible survival to go complete unacknowledged and / or denied. In short, this now indicates that the U.S. government has no intention of pursuing further investigations and inquiries regarding the fates of these men.

QUESTION:

What is the foundation on which the government is basing such a decision?

ANSWER:

The majority of background information for this can be found under the link below titled "More Empty Coffins At Arlington", but I'll summarize a portion of it here:

In 1993, a team from Joint Task Force~ Full Accounting located a remote crash site near the village of Ban Katok, Khammouan Province, Laos and consequently conducted a series of witness interviews and 4 excavations between 1993 and 1997. Several items were found that the government is now using as "evidence" of the deaths of all crewmembers. The primary source of this evidence that is being used to link the crew of "Spooky 10" to this particular crash site is a military identification "dog tag" bearing James' name. The only other item linking any of the eight American crew members to the area at all is a metal Captain's insignia which is being attributed to the co-pilot~ Marshall Tapp~ the only Captain on board. No physical human remains whatsoever have been identified as being those of either of these men.

According to 3 former-PAVN witnesses, the plane "crashed" and was "burning fiercely" within their bivouac area along the Mu Gia Pass area of the Ho Chi Minh Trail just within the border of Khammouan Province, Laos. Witness statements claim that all who were aboard the aircraft were killed upon impact.

As the (highly conflicting) statements continue, the 10 (or 11) crewmembers were thrown clear of the wreckage and were buried nearby in a total of 3 graves. Two of these being mass graves containing 4 to 6 bodies each~ the third being an individual grave in which one body was placed on the day following the shoot down.

However, during the course of excavations conducted over a period of 4 years, no such mass graves were ever located. Only once was a soil disturbance detected, which led to the discovery of a single grave, associated with one individual. As a result, the entire crew of "Spooky 10" (Case 0339) is now being "accounted for" by DoD solely on the inconclusive evidence of 23 small, non-mt-DNA tested bone fragments which are highly fragmented and have not been correlated to any specific individual. Nor have the remains been positively identified as human~ American, Asian, or otherwise.

I would like to recommend the following links for all who would like further documentation regarding the government's recent inaccurate "identification" of the crew of "Spooky 10": This information includes biographic case summaries... public statements made on behalf of our family... CIL-HI's Forensic Anthropological Report signed by Dr. Thomas D. Holland, which admittedly states that, the 23 co-mingled bone fragments have not been conclusively identified. Other information will provide news articles and additional statements regarding the false identification and the displeasure of several other family members whose loved ones were also involved in this incident.

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For further details, please access:

Individual Case Synopsis~ James A. Preston
(Personal statements from family included)

Individual Case Synopsis~ Lavern G. Reilly
(Personal statements from family included)

CIL-HI's Inconclusive Forensic "Identification"
(Approved by Dr. Thomas D. Holland; Scientific Director)

Documented Admittance Of No Mass Graves

"More Empty Coffins At Arlington"
(Also included in entirety on bio)

Arlington Date Set
(Excerpt from e-mail between Amanda Kidd and Mary Schantag~ POW Network)

Completely Ignored Evidence Of Survival
(See More Empty Coffins At Arlington)

"Full Accounting~ Or~ Forced Acceptance?"

A Plea For Help On Behalf Of CMSgt. James Arthur Preston

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QUESTION:

Do you have any personal thoughts that you would like to share with our readers?

ANSWER:

Our family is struggling with many personal thoughts and feelings, but to adequately express them would be difficult. We've attempted many times to vocalize our pain and dismay regarding the haste by which the government now wishes to rid itself of further responsibility regarding the fate of James and the other crew members involved in the loss of "Spooky 10"~ However I don't know that an adequate description of such feelings is truly possible.

The words "Speechless Disbelief"... "Anger"... "Sadness"... "Disappointment"... "Bewilderment"... and "Helplessness" may be a small beginning... But all still fall terribly short.

I know of no adequate words to verbalize the emotions that one feels when their loved one has been "twice abandoned" by the nation that was entrusted to protect him~ The very nation whose government should deem it unthinkable to forsake its defenders and to leave them behind in a foreign country for any length of time.

Nor do I believe that words exist to explain the emptiness that one feels to know that an immaculate marker bearing the name of a cherished loved one will soon stand in our nation's most elite military cemetery~ Only to know that the coffin underneath will be empty~ And that more unanswered questions now exist than the sum of those that we've had in all of the years that our loved one has been missing.

Due to my inability to explain such feelings, I personally find it much easier to cope with them privately and internally~ While outwardly focusing on the facts that indicate beyond question that The Truth regarding the fate of those aboard "Spooky 10" has yet to be uncovered.

Tragically, such false accountings are becoming increasingly frequent in the government's rush to eliminate as many "names" from the national list of POW/MIA servicemen as possible with as little evidence as it can get away with. The year 2004 marks the year that the national funding for JTF-FA excavations is scheduled to expire. Then what? What will become of those whose fates have yet to be known? What of their families? What of those who have already been falsely and inaccurately "accounted for?" Will any of these inaccurate "accountings" ever be re-investigated?

Due to the counter-productivity of the POW/MIA accounting effort, as we know it, families are being hurt as much by the government's "empty coffin "accountings" as we are through the countless years of having been told nothing at all. Now our family has been added to those who still have no more answers than we did all along. It saddens me to wonder whose loved ones will fall victim to such a travesty next.

The POW/MIA issue is now in the process of being "re-defined" by those within the U.S. government and the military Armed Services who have come to prefer the term "Isolated Personnel." Such a term falls nothing short of a "politically correct" manner by which to avoid the terms "Prisoner of War"... "Missing In Action"... "Captive"... "Lost"... "Forgotten"... "Left Behind"... and, yes, "Abandoned."

This situation has become critical and it desperately needs the help of all of us who still care enough to keep the voices of these men alive despite the obstacles that have now been placed before us. Our family needs all readers to join us in becoming a part of that voice.

QUESTION:

What, specifically, are some things that the Veteran and POW/MIA community as a whole can do to help?

ANSWER:

The knowledge that all of you are "out there" and are standing with our family in support of our determination to continue in our search for The Truth is most comforting in itself.

In addition to the many individual things that are mentioned under the above link titled "More Empty Coffins At Arlington", if I could ask anything else specifically, it would be the following:

~ Please continue to think and speak of the men of "Spooky 10" as living human beings~ They are not simply "names" to be eliminated from a list at the decision of a counter-productive system that has chosen to do no more on their behalf.

Please do not bow to the government's efforts to silence them in death with the stroke of a pen.

To our family, all of these men will remain "Missing In Action"~ There is no stroke of any pen that can truthfully alter the fact that these men have not been accounted for.

**** Set aside a Moment Of Silence for them on May 15, 2000 ****

In spite of our family's dismay, a memorial service is now scheduled to take place at Arlington National Cemetery~ the 34th anniversary of the crew's loss date. This will be a terribly difficult, trying, and emotional day for our family~ A day that we remain uncertain of how well we will cope.

Please set aside a few minutes of your time on this day to remember individually:

Col. George William Jensen...  Capt. Marshall Landis Tapp... 
Col. Lavern George Reilly... Maj. George Winton Thompson... 
CMSgt. James Arthur Preston... CMSgt. James Ellis Williams... 
CMSgt. William Louis Madison... and SMSgt. Kenneth Dewey McKenney.

Although our family admittedly harbors much bitterness, pain, and anger regarding the government's decision to prematurely silence these men by such a means of "false closure" and all that it symbolizes, we would ask that all citizens stand supportively with us in our wish to save outward expressions of anger for other days.

Wherever you may be on this particular date, please remember them in your thoughts and prayers with quiet respect... loving honor... and solemn dignity.

Their fight has been long... Their journey homeward is not over... And their struggle to be heard continues... But with God's help and guidance, we know in our hearts that The Truth that is still waiting to be uncovered WILL prevail.

May God Bless You All.

Amanda Y. Kidd
Relative of CMSgt. James Arthur Preston~ MIA~ Laos

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Click on POW/MIA graphic to return to the April issue of "The Moonduster Chronicles