Shareware Supreme Volume 6 #1/swsii.zip/swsii/009/M195.ZIP/M195.TXT

Text File | 1991-03-01 | 6KB | 107 lines

MELTON, TODD MICHAEL

Name: Todd Michael Melton
Rank/Branch: E5/US Air Force
Unit: 361st Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron
Date of Birth: 11 April 1949
Home City of Record: Milwaukee WI
Date of Loss: 05 February 1973
Country of Loss: Laos
Loss Coordinates: 153755N 1065957E (YC143291)
Status (in 1973): Missing In Action/Killed In Action
Category: 1
Acft/Vehicle/Ground: EC47Q

Other Personnel in Incident: Dale Brandenburg; Arthur R. Bollinger; Joseph A.
Matejov; George R. Spitz; Severo J. Primm III; Peter R. Cressman; (all missing);
Robert E. Bernhardt (remains recovered)

Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 15 March 1991 from one or more of the
following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with
POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews. Copyright 1991 Homecoming II
Project.

REMARKS: KIA 3 - POSS CAPT 4

SYNOPSIS: On February 5, 1973, about a week after the signing of the Paris
Peace Agreement, an EC47Q aircraft was shot down over Saravane Province, Laos,
about 50 miles east of the city of Saravane. The crew of the aircraft consisted
of the pilot, Capt. George R. Spitz; co-pilot, 2Lt. Severo J. Primm III, Capt.
Arthur R. Bollinger, 1Lt. Robert E. Bernhardt, Sgt. Dale Brandenburg, Sgt.
Joseph A. Matejov, all listed as crew members, and Sgt. Peter R. Cressman and
SSgt. Todd M. Melton, both systems operators. The families of all aboard the
aircraft were told the men were dead, and advised to conduct memorial services.

It is known that Cressman and Matejov were members of Detachment 3, 6994th
Security Squadron from Ubon, Thailand. The aircraft, however, was flying out of
the 361st TEW Squadron (Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron) at Nakhon Phanom
Airbase, Thailand. Primm, Melton, Spitz, Brandenburg and Bernhardt were assigned
to the 361st TEW Squadron. Bollinger's unit is unknown.

The men in the 6994th were highly trained and operated in the greatest of
secrecy. They were not allowed to mingle with others from their respective
bases, nor were the pilots of the aircraft carrying them on their missions
always told what their objective was. They were cryptology experts, language
experts, and knew well how to operate some of the Air Force's most sophisticated
equipment. They were the first to hear the enemy's battle plans.

Over five years later, Joe Matejov's mother, Mary Matejov, heard columnist Jack
Anderson, on "Good Morning America", describe a Pathet Lao radio communique
which described the capture of four "air pirates" on the same day as the EC47Q
carrying her son was shot down. NO OTHER PLANE WAS MISSING THAT DAY. Anderson's
information indicated that reconnaissance personnel had 40 uninterrupted minutes
in which to survey the crash site.

The report of the reconnaissance team, which was not provided to the families
for over five years, showed that three bodies, which were thought to have been
higher ranking officers because of the seating arrangement, were found strapped
in seats. Four of the men aboard the aircraft were not in or around the
aircraft, and the partial remains of the eighth man (Bernhardt) was recovered.
No identification was brought out from the crash site, and no attempt was made
to recover the three bodies from the downed aircraft. It is assumed that the
reconnaissance team was most interested in recovering the sensitive equipment
aboard the EC47Q. The EC47Q became known as the "Flying Pueblo". Most of the
"kids" in back, as some pilots called them, were young, in good health, and
stood every chance of surviving captivity.

There were specific reports intercepted regarding the four missing men from the
aircraft missing on February 5, 1973. Radio reports indicated that the four were
transported to the North Vietnam border. None were released in the general POW
release beginning the next month.

Peter Cressman enlisted in the United States Air Force in August, 1969 and after
two years at Elmendorf AFB in Anchorage, Alaska he volunteered for service in
Vietnam and left for Da Nang in June 1972.

In Da Nang, Peter spent his free hours at Sacred Heart Orphanage. His letters to
his hometown priest in Oakland, New Jersey, resulted in the forming of
"Operation Forget-Me-Not". Community schools, churches, merchants and citizens
joined the effort to help the innocent victims of war. The group eventually
provided a boxcar of supplies to the orphans.

Peter was transferred to the airbase at Ubon, Thailand. He believed the secret
missions being flown into Laos were illegal, and had written letters to his
congressman in that regard. His family has been active in efforts to locate
information on Peter and the nearly 2500 others who remain unaccounted for. They
founded the National Forget-Me-Not Association for POW/MIAs in St.Petersburg,
Florida, the largest POW advocacy group in the country.

Joseph Matejov enlisted in the Air Force in 1970 from his home state of New York
and went to Southeast Asia in April, 1972. Joe's father and two brothers were
career military. His sister graduated from West Point in 1981. Steven Matejov
died in 1984 not knowing what happened to his son. Joe's mother, Mary says, "Joe
may be alive. If so, this government has a legal and moral responsibility to get
him home.  The next generation of servicemen should not have to wonder if they
will answer the call to defend their country only to be abandoned. We must stop
this tragedy now, and never allow it to happen again."

Thousands of reports received by the U.S. Government have convinced many experts
that hundreds of Americans remain captive in Southeast Asia. Members of a crew
flying a secret mission after a peace agreement had been signed would likely be
considered war criminals. If they are among those thought to be alive, the
survivors of the EC47Q have been held captive over 15 years. It's time we
brought our men home.