CORDOVA, SAM GARY
Remains Returned December 1988

Name: Sam Gary Cordova
Rank/Branch: O2/US Marine Corps
Unit: VMFA 232, 1st Marine Air Wing
Date of Birth: 27 August 1943
Home City of Record: Huntington Beach CA
Date of Loss: 16 August 1972
Country of Loss: Laos
Loss Coordinates: 203058N 1043300E (VH531685)
Status (in 1973): Missing In Action
Category: 1
Acft/Vehicle/Ground: F4J
Other Personnel In Incident: (Backseater-name unknown)

REMARKS:

SYNOPSIS: Sam Cordova was the pilot of an F4J fighter jet shot down over Laos
on August 26, 1972. His plane was downed on the border of Laos and Vietnam in
Houa Phan Province near the city of Sop Hoa. Lt. Cordova spoke to U.S. aircraft
in the area over his survival radio while safely parachuting from his aircraft.
He later radioed that he had fallen into a ravine and heard his pursuers
approaching. According to a member of Cordova's squadron, Sam Cordova's last
transmission stated that he was going to be captured if he wasn't picked up
immediately.

It was never determined whether or not Sam was captured or not. Although the
Lao stated publicly that they held "tens of tens" of American prisoners, less
than a dozen names were ever discovered of Americans held by the Lao.

When the Peace Agreements were signed in Paris in 1973, ending American
involvement in the Vietnam war, Laos was not included. The U.S. did not
negotiate the release of Americans held in Laos because it did not recognize
its communist government. Not one American was released from Laos.

The families of men like Sam who were known to have survived their loss
incident have fought for years for information on their men, and have prodded
incessantly for more action to free them. They have been tantalized by
thousands of reports from refugees relating to missing men in Southeast Asia,
and believe there is every likelihood that there are still men alive there in
captivity.

In return for the U.S. Government's humanitarian assistance to Laos, and more
recently, in the private building of medical clinics in Laos, the government of
Laos agreed to assist in excavating a limited number of American crash sites.
Several remains have been recovered through the crash site excavations,
although several of the identifications have proven to be erroneous.

In a seemingly humanitarian gesture to Presidential Envoy General John Vessey,
the Vietnamese have turned several dozen remains over to U.S. control. Although
several of these remains have turned out to be non-human, many have been
identified as U.S. servicemen.

In December 1988, Sam Cordova came home to be buried in American soil.
When the last American troops left Southeast Asia in 1975, some 2500 Americans
were unaccounted for. Reports received by the U.S.Government since that time
build a strong case for belief that hundreds of these "unaccounted for"
Americans are still alive and in captivity.

"Unaccounted for" is a term that should apply to numbers, not men. Nearly 600
men were left behind in Laos, and our government did not negotiate their
release. We, as a nation, owe these men our best effort to find them and bring
them home. Until the fates of the men like Cordova are known, their families
will wonder if they are dead or alive .. and why they were deserted.