Shareware Supreme Volume 6 #1/swsii.zip/swsii/009/A366.ZIP/A366

Text File | 1991-01-04 | 4KB | 73 lines

ANDERSON, GREGORY LEE

Name: Gregory Lee Anderson
Rank/Branch: E4/US Air Force
Unit:
Date of Birth: 27 August 1947
Home City of Record: Wheaton IL
Date of Loss: 28 January 1970
Country of Loss: North Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 180200N 1053300E (WF582048)
Status (in 1973): Killed/Body Not Recovered
Category: 3
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: HH53B
Other Personnel in Incident: Leonard C. Leeser; William D. Pruett; William C.
Shinn; William C. Sutton (missing); Holly G. Bell (remains returned). On F105G
aircraft: Richard J. Mallon; Robert J. Panek (remains returned)

REMARKS: MIG HIT - EXPLODE - SHRT BEEPR - J

SYNOPSIS: On January 28, 1970, Capt. Richard J. Mallon, pilot; and Capt. Robert
J. Panek, backseater, were sent as escort to a reconnaissance aircraft on a
mission in North Vietnam. Their F105 aircraft was a G model, which was an
adaptation of the F105F used in the Wild Weasel program.

The F105F Wild Weasel featured radar homing and warning gear. Upon pinpointing
the radar at a missile site, the Wild Weasel attacked with Shrike missiles that
homed in on radar emissions. The F105F was a stretch-limo F105, with a longer
fusilage to allow for a second crewman. As modified for the G, the F105
launched Standard ARM rather than the shorter range Shrike. During the period
of 1965-1972, the F105 performed on many diversified missions in Southeast
Asia, including SAM attack, bombing, and as in the case of the mission of
Mallon and Panek, armed escort/diversion.

Mallon and Panek's aircraft was shot down during the mission, and they both
successfully ejected and landed safely in an enemy controlled area about 20
miles northeast of the Mu Gia Pass on the mountainous border of North Vietnam
and Laos.

A helicopter was immediately dispatched to pick up the two downed airmen. When
the aircraft was about 50 miles northwest of the location of the F105 crash,it
was hit by a MIG and exploded. The helicopter was flown by pilot Major Holly G.
Bell, and carried crewmen Capt. Leonard C. Leeser, SMSgt. William D. Pruett;
SSgt. William C. Shinn; MSgt. William C. Sutton; and passenger Sgt. Gregory L.
Anderson. A short beeper signal was heard from the helicopter, indicating that
at least one person aboard may have exited the aircraft. All six aboard were
listed as Killed/Body Not Recovered. It was thought that in the cases of Bell
and Anderson that the enemy would not likely have knowledge of their fates, but
that the Vietnamese could probably account for the other four men. (A
determination that was probably made from the relative crew positions and their
proximity to the area of the MIG hit and the likelihood of their having excaped
obliteration by the explosion.)

Mallon and Panek, meanwhile, were in an area heavily infiltrated with the
enemy, and it was known that there were enemy troops in the vicinity. It was
thought very probable that the two were captured or killed by the enemy, but
never known for certain, as they did not appear in the Hanoi prison system to
be held with those American POWs who were released. The Vietnamese denied any
knowledge of any of the eight men missing that day.

In December 1988, the Vietnamese returned a number of remains they stated were
those of American servicemen to U.S. control. The remains of Mallon, Panek, and
the helicopter pilot, Holly G. Bell were subsequently positively identified by
the U.S. Casualty Identification Laboratory in Hawaii (CILHI).

For the Panek, Mallon and Bell families, the long wait is over. They are no
longer haunted by a never-ceasing flow of reports concerning Americans alive in
Southeast Asia. For the other families, however, life goes on in agonizing
suspense. And for the hundreds of Americans said to be alive in Southeast Asia,
the days pass in imprisonment and abandonment.