KIEFEL, ERNEST PHILIP JR.

Name: Ernest Philip Kiefel, Jr.
Rank/Branch: O3/US Air Force
Unit: 13th Bombing Squadron, Da Nang AFB SV
Date of Birth: 11 May 1933
Home City of Record: Harrisburg PA
Date of Loss: 10 February 1966
Country of Loss: Laos
Loss Coordinates: 164200N 1062100E (XD413458)
Status (in 1973): Missing In Action
Category: 2
Acft/Vehicle/Ground: B57B

Other Personnel In Incident: Russell P. Hunter (missing)

Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 31 April 1990 from one or more of the
following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with
POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews.

REMARKS:

SYNOPSIS: The B57 Canberra bomber was dispatched to Vietnam in response to the
Tonkin Gulf incident in the summer of 1964. Although the upgrading of Vietnamese
anti-aircraft and ground attacks made the B57 vulnerable after a time, it still
proved valuable as a light bomber, and in interdiction missions over Laos.

Capt. Russell P. Hunter Jr. was the pilot of a B57B Canberra sent on an night
strike mission over Laos on February 10, 1966. His navigator/co-pilot was Capt.
Ernest P. Kiefel Jr., an Air Force officer with 16 years service. The two men
were assigned to the 13th Bombing Squadron based at Da Nang, South Vietnam.

(NOTE: Some records indicate that these two men were based in the Philippines.
It is possible that they were on a short-duty tour from a unit in the
Philippines and working with the 13th Bombing Squadron.)
                                                        
Hunter's aircraft was on its second pass over a target on the Ho Chi Minh Trail
when Hunter reported he was having difficulty with the aircraft and the crew
members were bailing out. Neither Hunter nor Kiefel were found after the
aircraft went down. Their last known location was about 5 miles east of the city
of Sepone in Savannakhet Province.

(NOTE: Air Force records state "the crew members were bailing out," which can be
misinterpreted unless one understands that the Canberra was a two-man aircraft.
The crew, in this case, consisted of Hunter and Kiefel only.)

What happened to Hunter and Kiefel is not known. They are among nearly 600
Americans who disappeared in the "secret war" in Laos and never returned. When
591 Americans were released from prisons in Vietnam in 1973 at the end of the
war, not one American held by the Lao was among them. No treaty or agreement has
been signed to secure their release since that day, although the Lao stated
publicly that they held prisoners and would release them only from Laos. There
is ample reason to believe that the Vietnamese and/or the Communist Lao know
what happened to Hunter and Kiefel on December 29, 1967.

There have been nearly 10,000 reports given to the U.S. Government relating to
Americans prisoner, missing, or otherwise unaccounted for in Southeast Asia.
Many officials who have seen this largely classified information have
reluctantly concluded that hundreds of Americans are still alive in captivity
today. Whether Hunter and Kiefel might be among them is unknown. What is
certain, however, is that as long as even one man remains held against his will
in Indochina, we must do everything possible to bring him home.


Both Hunter and Kiefel were promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel during
the period they were maintained missing.