United States Air Force Aircrew 30 June 1970 |
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| Remains
were returned 03/95 as "120 bone fragments which cannot be degregated,
fragments too small for DNA testing as it would "destroy the chips", a
dental prostheses, a St. Christopher's medal, coins, buttons, etc. They
say the fragments represent a minimum of one person, a maximum of two people,
yet they feel this is a full accounting of five men who served our government."
March 30, 1995.
GOEGLEIN, JOHN WINFRED
Other Personnel In Incident: Michael F. Dean; Paul L. Jenkins; Marvin E. Bell; Leroy C. Schaneberg (missing); on nearby OV10A: Williams S. Sanders (missing) 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. Updated by the P.O.W. NETWORK 1998. REMARKS: SYNOPSIS: On June 30, 1970, a crew from the 40th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron at Udorn Airfield, Thailand was dispatched to rescue a downed flight crew. Crew aboard the Sikorsky HH53C "Super Jolly" helicopter included the pilot, Capt. Leroy C. Schaneberg, crewmembers Major John W. Goeglein, MSgt. Paul L. Jenkins, SSgt. Marvin E. Bell, and SSgt. Michael F. Dean. The members of the 40th Air R & R were trained for both air and sea recovery, and the big "Super Jolly" was equipped to airlift both the crew and aircraft out of sticky situations. The downed and injured pilot was located in
Savannakhet Province, Laos, about two kilometers south of Bang Tang. The
HH53C penetrated the area, known to be hostile, in an attempt to rescue
the pilot, but was forced away by hostile ground fire. A second attempt
was made, but the helicopter was hit by hostile fire, caught on fire, went
out of control and crashed. The Air Force states it received evidence on
July 4, 1970, that the crew was dead, but that evidence is
On the same day, Capt. Williams S. Sanders was flying an OV10A Bronco southeast of Khe Sanh at a point where Laos veers north to intrude on South Vietnam. His aircraft was shot down just inside Laos, not far from the location of the downed helicopter. The Bronco was generally used for marking targets, armed reconnaissance and forward air control, so the nature of Capt. Sanders' mission and its precise relation to the mission of the Super Jolly from Udorn is unknown. The crew of the helicopter was numerically listed missing before the OV10, so it is does not seem likely that the helicopter was assisting the observation aircraft, but as no other aircraft is missing on that day in that area, either the downed pilot was Sanders or the pilot was rescued by other means. Unfortunately, for families of men missing
in Laos, information is difficult to obtain. Twenty and twenty-five year
old records remain classified and details obscured. Much of this information
was classified to distort American
GOEGLEIN, JOHN W
DEAN, MICHAEL F
JENKINS, PAUL L
SCHANEBERG, LEROY C
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