Operation Just Cause... ...for as long as it takes
by Marilyn Grote
The Moonduster Chronicles is proud to introduce you to Major Joseph Y. Echanis:
Name: Joseph Ygnacio Echanis
Rank/Branch: O3/US Air Force
Unit: 497th Tactical Fighter Squadron
Date of Birth: 06 October 1937
Home City of Record: Portland OR
Date of Loss: 05 November 1969
Country of Loss: Laos
Loss Coordinates: 172800N 1053900E (WE725422)
Status (in 1973): Missing In Action
Category: 3
Acft/Vehicle/Ground: F4D
Refno: 1518
Other Personnel In Incident: Douglas P. LeFever (missing)
Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 01 April 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: Capt. Douglas P. LeFever was the pilot and Major Joseph Y. Echanis the navigator of an F4D aircraft from the 497th Tactical Fighter Squadron. On November 5, 1969, their mission was to act as Forward Air Controller for an operational mission over Laos. While directing a flight over the assigned area, radio contact was lost with the plane. At 4:34 a.m., one of the strike aircraft in the area saw a large ball of fire on the ground. Although no parachutes were observed, the Air Force concluded that the possibility exists that the crew ejected and safely reached the ground.
Throughout the day, an electronic search was conducted, with negative results. The terrain where the plane went down was so rugged that a visual search was not possible. No wreckage was ever found. The last known location was just southwest of Ban Som Peng in Khammouane Province, Laos.
Since the war's end in 1973, the U.S. Government regarding Americans still in captivity in Southeast Asia has received thousands of reports. Most of the reports involve Americans in Laos, where nearly 600 Americans went missing, and none released.
Henry Kissinger predicted, in the 50's, that future "limited political engagements" would result, unfortunately, in non-recoverable 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.
Both Echanis and Lefever were promoted to the rank of Major during the period they were maintained Missing in Action.
I remember my Dad in his flight suit. He was a career navigator in the Air Force so he was wearing a flight suit a lot. He was 32 years old when his plane went down in Laos. Just before he went over to Southeast Asia, we were stationed at George AFB in California while my Dad trained in the F-4. I remember that there were Israeli pilots training with my father. Every night when he came home from work (flying jets!), he would watch the Huntley-Brinkley show. It was the evening news show of the day. One day, he came home from work all excited because he was going to be on the Huntley-Brinkley show. Apparently, they were doing a show on the Israeli pilots training in the US. They wanted footage of an Israeli team running out, jumping in the jet and taking off. They did not have any Israeli aircrews ready to go, so my Dad and his aircraft commander ran out jumped in their plane, and took off on the Huntley-Brinkley show. In their g-suits and helmets, you couldn't tell they weren't the Israeli pilots. Dad was awfully excited that night! He also said that the Israelis were the best pilots!
I am the oldest of four children. I was 9 when Dad left for Southeast Asia. I was almost 10 when his plane went down. I am the only one of "us kids" who has any really clear memories of our Dad. We talk about him when we are together. Mom has a lot of stories she shares with us, as do other members of Dad's family. He was an athlete and he played piano by ear. He could hear a song and figure it out in short order on the piano. He had a masters in education, and wanted to retire to Bend, Oregon where he wanted to teach high school and coach football.
Dad was the only male child of his parents, and could have gotten out of a combat assignment because of that. He chose the combat assignment because he truly believed that it was his duty and that he had to do whatever he could to make a better world for his family. That's what makes him our hero. We are so proud of his service to his country. So proud, in fact, that my brother, Joe, served in the Marine Corps, and my brother, Larry, graduated from the Air Force Academy to become a B-52 pilot and an instructor pilot in the Air Force. I am very proud of their service to our country.
My brother, Joe, remembers when the government car drove into our driveway and the men in uniforms got out and came to the door to tell us that Dad was missing. It was a memory that came back to haunt him when he was in the Corps. He was stationed on the USS Nimitz in the early 80's when we were having some trouble with Libya. One of the aircraft crashed on the deck of the ship, and there was a huge fire and men died. Joe was on deck shortly after the crash with men dying around him. What he remembered was the men in uniforms coming to our door on the morning of November 5th, 1969. He knew that these men's families would all receive such a visit. We waited at home after that accident, for what seemed like an eternity to find out if Joe was dead or alive. There were A LOT of prayers that week. Fortunately, Joe was fine physically. Emotionally however, he had been through the equivalent of a combat experience.
We have all felt the loss of our father in different ways. The Air Force led us to believe that Dad's plane crashed into a mountain accidentally and without warning. They were flying at night in bad weather. We were told that there were two aircraft flying with Dad that witnessed the crash and that no one could have survived the crash that they saw. We had a memorial service at Arlington National Cemetery, and went on with our lives. Mom remarried and we moved on. Still there was a nagging feeling of what I assumed was loss.
In the early 90's, my brother, Joe, became the Primary Next of Kin and began looking into Dad's case. They were beginning to excavate crash sites in Laos that they thought might correlate to my father's case. Joe made connections with people all over the country and began to suspect that maybe what the Air Force had been telling us was not accurate. We are all working on the case together now, and we've found out some new information. Actually, it's old information that we have found recently. The Search and Rescue logs (SAR logs) were found. Some people might question the fact that these documents were lost, but I think it's possible. If you knew how the government keeps their documents, it is entirely possible. There are documents scattered throughout the country in many different archives and libraries. As far as I know, there is no centralized system to keep track of these documents. Back to the SAR logs. There was a mayday call from my father's plane. This is significant because that indicates that there was something wrong and that they did not "accidentally" crash into a mountain because of poor weather and poor visibility. Also, the so called "eye witnesses" to the crash did not see the crash because they could not see the aircraft my Dad was in due to a bank of clouds below them and above Dad's plane. What they saw was a "flash in the clouds below them". This may have been Dad's plane, but it is possible that they were able to eject from the aircraft. The eyewitnesses said that they did not see any ejection, but with a large bank of clouds obstructing their view, they may not have been able to see an ejection if it occurred.
So, now we have the possibility that my Father was able to eject and possibly taken captive. We are looking for records that may shed light on what actually happened that night. We are currently awaiting the review and declassification of National Security Agency (NSA) radio intercept files. These files contain information from enemy radio transmissions that may give us information on the fate of many men currently listed as Missing in Action.
Last year when I was in Washington DC for the annual government briefings, I went with another family member to the National Archives looking for those NSA radio intercept files. We thought they had already been declassified. We found withdrawal notices in the place of the files. It looked like they had been reclassified, when in fact; they had never been declassified in spite of a formal request that they be reviewed for declassification in 1994. Some of the documents in this group have been released, but none of them are radio intercepts. There are several government agencies that continue to hold classified information from the Vietnam War. The majority of these documents should be declassified in compliance with the Freedom of Information Act and several presidential orders. The CIA and the NSA are two agencies that are dragging their feet regarding the issue of declassification of documents.
Our role in this is to keep the pressure on these agencies regarding this issue. You can help by making your representatives and senators aware that you expect them to demand the release of these documents as soon as possible. This is our responsibility to all the men whose fate is unknown. We as family members and we as a citizens deserve to know the full extent of these brave and honorable men's service to our great country.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you who are reading this. You care about this issue, and in doing so you honor all the people who have ever served our country. So please write your representatives and senators about this issue. Let them know it is important to you that our POW/MIA's are not forgotten. We need to know what happened to ALL of them.
Thank you and God Bless!
Victoria's email address is: echanis@pacifier.com
