[b]Listing on Vietnam Wall sought for troops killed in 1962 plane crash[/b] Related Unofficial US military passenger list for Flight 739 The 1962 CAB report on the Flying Tiger accident The Flying Tiger Flight 739 petition Image_36238003.jpg View Photo Gallery » [b]Army Sgt. 1st Class Raymond 'Bill' Myers, seen here with his wife Irene, disappeared, along with 92 other U.S. troops, when the plane they were riding in went done in the Pacific Ocean March 16, 1962 somewhere between Guam and the Philippines.[/b] [URL=s1233.photobucket/user/mainejim1/media/imageG_zpse89769be.jpg.html][img]i1233.photobucket/albums/ff388/mainejim1/imageG_zpse89769be.jpg[/img][/URL] Photo courtesy of Tommy Joe Myer Before departing for Vietnam 51 years ago, Army Sgt. 1st Class Raymond “Bill” Myers left behind his ID, dog tags and a gold ring he had never taken off before. He told his brother-in-law that he had a bad feeling about the mission and didn’t think he would be coming home. He asked him to watch over his wife and children after he was gone. Myers then boarded a military-chartered Flying Tiger Airline Lockheed Super Constellation aircraft at Travis Air Force Base in California. After several stops, the plane disappeared over the Pacific and the 93 American soldiers, three South Vietnamese military men and 11 crewmembers onboard were never heard from again. They were declared dead less than two months later. Myers’ son, Tommy Joe — like the families of the other lost Americans — has no answers about his father’s fate. Adding to that pain is how his father and the others have been forgotten. Their names are not on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., and no government agencies — Army, Air Force, Defense Department, National Archives, State Department, CIA — admit to possessing records related to the soldiers and their mission. None could provide Stars and Stripes with a list of the deceased, although they are mentioned in a Civil Aeronautics Board crash report from 1962. A petition has been launched to get the names added to the wall. Proponents face an uphill battle and need to prove that the plane was headed to Vietnam for a combat mission — which has been impossible without documentation — or through the special intervention of elected officials. “They were flying into harm’s way,” said Frank Allen, the Massachusetts man who started the change.org petition in October. Allen is related to one of the men, Sgt. Howard Gallipeau Jr., by marriage. “Had they survived and landed, they might have died under different circumstances. The military treats it like a car accident. They should be honored for what they did.” Allen’s petition calls for 1,000 signatures, although they are hoping for many more. The petition will be sent to Defense Department officials after it closes in October. Tommy Joe Myers said after years of being turned away and threatened when pressing for answers and recognition, he has lost all hope. “It’s hurtful that they won’t put these guys’ names on the wall,” he said. “People need to know what these guys sacrificed. Just give them the same courtesy and respect other guys have gotten.” A few good men In early 1962, the U.S. was slowly ramping up involvement in Vietnam, according to editions of Pacific Stars and Stripes from the time. Known military operations were limited mostly to advising the South Vietnamese, and ferrying troops into battle and limited engagements with communist forces when fired upon. The men on Flight 739 appear to have been hand-picked for the mission; they came from bases across the country, according to Vietnam veteran and retired Marine Bruce Swander, who has spent the last 10 years researching the flight in an effort to get their names added to the wall. He said his research indicates they were advisers trained in communications and not Special Forces. Pacific Stars and Stripes reported after the plane disappeared that the men were trained jungle troops. Myers was an all-American boy, according to his son. He grew up in Carterville, Ill., with Steve McQueen good looks and piercing blue eyes. He played minor league baseball in the St. Louis Cardinals organization and commanded attention when he entered the room. But his real passion was military service. Myers was listed as a supply sergeant in the heavily redacted file his son received upon filing a Freedom of Information Act request several years ago, but he could also speak a multitude of languages. He was a veteran of World War II and had been wounded during two combat tours in Korea. Myers received his orders to head to Vietnam on March 13, 1962, according to a copy of the orders obtained by Stars and Stripes. The next morning he would be on the ill-fated Military Air Transport Service chartered Flying Tiger Line Flight 739. As was the case with Myers, Spc. 4 Roger Oliver’s family put a headstone in the ground in his hometown after the plane disappeared. Oliver, from Victory, Wis., was “very studious,” and he joined the Army and was trained in communications, according to his sister, Gloria Oliver. He also told his father that he wouldn’t be coming home from the mission and asked him to take care of his pregnant wife and baby after he was gone. His daughter was born later that year. “He said, ‘I won’t be back from this,’” Oliver’s daughter, Kristina Hoge, told Stars and Stripes. “My grandfather told him, ‘You’ll be fine.’ I think it haunted my grandfather.” Hoge said over the years she was told by her father’s friends that he was involved in “black ops.” A condolence letter from his commanding officer at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., states that he worked in the Film Library Division there. Her mother thought he was going to Vietnam to make a training film. Army photos of Sgt. Howard Gallipeau Jr. from Korea show the communications specialist relaying fire instructions over a field radio from “no man’s land” during fighting. He would be wounded in action, have surgery and re-enlist. He was tough but warmhearted, his son, Howard Gallipeau III, told Stars and Stripes. Eerily, the sergeant too told his wife he would not be coming back alive. “Before he left, he said, ‘I don’t think I’m going to be coming home from this one,’” his son said. “My mom tried to talk him out of going but he said. ‘I have to serve my country.’” The three families contacted by Stars and Stripes said they didn’t know each other and hadn’t shared their stories among themselves. stripes/news/listing-on-vietnam-wall-sought-for-troops-killed-in- 1962-plane-crash-1.231996
Posted on: Thu, 25 Jul 2013 00:04:34 +0000
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