I.D. DISPUTED See 3 stories below.APODACA, VICTOR JOE JR.
Name: Victor Joe Apodaca, Jr. Rank/Branch: O3/USAF Unit: 389th Tactical Fighter Squadron, 366 TFW Danang, South Vietnam Date of Birth: 31 May 1937 Home City of Record: Englewood CO Date of Loss: 08 June 1967 Country of Loss: North Vietnam Loss Coordinates: 173900N 1061600E (XE343517) Status (in 1973): Missing In Action Category: 2 Acft/Vehicle/Ground: F4C
Other Personnel in Incident: Jon T. Busch (remains returned) Refno: 0727
REMARKS: POSS DEAD FIR 3170909973
Source: Compiled 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 in 2007 with information from the National Alliance of Families.
SYNOPSIS: On the evening of June 8, 1967, two F4C Phantom planes departed Da Nang Airbase on an armed reconnaissance mission over North Vietnam. Hambone 1 took the lead, followed about a mile behind by Hambone 2, commanded by Capt. Victor Apodaca, Jr. and flown by Capt. Jon T. Busch. The two aircraft were flying at an altitude of about 4500 feet over a river valley with rolling to mountainous terrain about 22 miles northeast of Dong Hoi, North Vietnam.
Hambone 1 radioed Hambone 2 that he was encountering heavy and accurate ground fire. Fifteen seconds later, Apodaca acknowledged the warning and reported that his aircraft had been hit. Hambone 1 advised Apodaca to exit the area and head for the coast (where a safer at-sea rescue could occur). Moments later, Hambone 2 reported that it was experiencing control and hydraulics problems. The last message from Hambone 2 gave the direction of the aircraft and its altitude, which was 16,000 feet.
Seconds later, emergency signals were received for about 25 seconds, but it was not possible to determine whether one or two radio signals were broadcasting, nor could the precise point of origination be determined. Hambone 1, critically low on fuel, was forced to return to base.
An electronic search was conducted, but suspended due to darkness, bad weather and heavy anti-aircraft fire. During the search, no electronic or visual contact was made and no evidence of the aircraft was found.
The Air Force told the families they could not determine whether or not the men survived. Neither man was among the prisoners released in 1973 from Vietnam, and the Hanoi government denies any knowledge of them for 20 years.
On November 12, 1973, a refugee reported the death of an American airman which occurred in Bo Trach District, Quang Binh Province, North Vietnam at about 1500 hours one day in June 1967. According to the report, a U.S. F4 jet flying with about five other jets bombing a bridge on Route 1A was hit by 37mm anti-aircraft fire, crashed into Doi Troc Hill in Chanh Hoa II village. The source further stated that an airman bailed out and landed in a forest near the same village. At about 1530 hours, the refugee went to where the airman landed and saw his body lying in the grass. He was told by villagers that approximately 10 minutes after the airman had landed, militiamen from the village found him hiding in a bamboo thicket and captured him. The villagers then watched as the militiamen beat the American to death with hoes and bamboo sticks.
The refugee said he observed the dead American for about 10 minutes from a distance of about 5 meters. He described the airman as a caucasian, about 45 years old, 5' 11" tall, weighing about 220 pounds with fair complexion, short blonde hair, a moustache about one centimeter long and a heavy beard. He was unable to identify the airman from photos of the missing. JCRC correlated the report to the Busch/Apodaca incident.
In the spring of 1988, remains identified as Jon Busch, a burned map, three pieces of bone (which were identified as non-human by a Vietnamese anthropologist) and a charred and battered nameplate bearing Apodaca's name were returned to Presidential Envoy General John Vessey.
Busch's remains were positively identified by the U.S. Army Central Identification Laboratory in Hawaii, based largely on the correlation of the refugee report, which evidently matched information given over by the Vietnamese with the remains. The status of "Box 19", which purportedly hold the effects of Victor Apodaca Jr, are still unknown to his family.
There are serious discrepancies in the refugee report as it relates to Busch and Apodaca. Jon Busch has red hair, not blonde. Vic Apodaca has black hair. Both men were clean shaven, and were forbidden by the Air Force to grow a beard. The Hambone flight departed at 5 p.m. in the evening, while the CIA report claimed the airman was killed at 3:30 p.m. just following his landing. The Hambone flight, while armed, was not involved in a bombing mission at all. Jon Busch was declared dead in 1967. Victor Apodaca was declared dead three days after the CIA received the refugee report.
The Apodaca family was never given the report by the U.S. Government. They discovered the report through a Freedom of Information Act request they filed in 1985. To many observers, there is a serious problem with the identification of these remains. Many will retain Jon Busch on the lists of missing because the discrepancies are too outrageous to make the correlation possible.
Jon Busch and Vic Apodaca are two of nearly 2500 Americans who were declared missing in Southeast Asia. Thousands of reports add to the evidence that perhaps hundreds of them are still held prisoner of war. Perhaps Jon and Vic died on the day of the crash of their aircraft. But, perhaps they did not. If the remains returned are not Jon Busch's, who will be looking for him? Not the U.S. Government. His case is officially closed. Vic Apodaca's family wants the truth. His sister Dolores says, "I won't just let them bury his memory based on some report with that many discrepancies. It's been 22 years, but none of us are so tired that we'll drop this without a fight."
Victor Joe Apodaca, Jr. was appointed to the Air Force Academy in 1957. He was the first Spanish/American/Navajo Indian to attend the Academy.
Victor's sister, Dolores Alfond, heads the national organzation out of Washington State, the National Alliance of Families for the Return of America's Missing Servicemen.
--------------------------------------------------
{National Alliance of Families}
CIL-HI TURNS ANIMAL BONES TO HUMAN
Remains currently under consideration for designation as Air Force Capt. Victor J. Apodaca have a questionable history. In 1988, the Vietnamese unilaterally repatriated remains designated Victor Apodaca.
In April of 1989, the Vietnamese, once again, repatriated remains designated Victor Apodaca.
The Comprehensive Case Review, prepared by the Defense POW/MIA Office (DPMO) in 1995, referenced both remains repatriations. Of the 1988 repatriation, DPMO states "SRV unilaterally repatriated remains of Busch (backseater), plus box alleged to contain Apodaca remains. Also turned over at the time was a mutilated dogtag of Apodaca and a map. SRV forewarned U.S. that Apodaca remains were believed to be non-human. Busch remains were identified; CIL-HI confirmed that Apodaca remains were non-human."
Of the 1989 repatriation, DPMO stated "unilateral repatriation included container alleged to contain Apodaca remains SRV said remains were acquired for HCM City (Ho Chi Minh City) smuggler by Public Security. Remains determined to be human race undetermined. Nothing else. Remains held at CIL pending future repatriations. No indication why SRV associated remains with Apodaca."
"Remains determine to be be human, race undetermined"; was not what the Commander of the Joint Casualty Resolution Center said. According to message traffic, dated September 22, 1989, the Commander of JCRC stated:
APODACA, VICTORY J. JR; 0727; QUANG BINH: RECOVERED FROM REMAINS DEALERS. REPATRIATED TO THE U.S. TWICE WITH DOG TAG. THE U.S. SIDE REPORTS THE REMAINS WERE ANIMAL BONES.
Animal bones in 1989... Human bones in 1995.... Tested for an mt-DNA match in 1997....
No explanation has been offered to the Apodaca family regarding the transformation of animal bones to human bones.
======================================================
National Alliance of Families June 30, 2001 Bits N Pieces
From The Sisters of Major Victor Apodaca - Some of you may have seen a recent article, circulated by email, discussing the identification of remains as our brother, Major Victor Apodaca. On May 15th, our nephew, as primary next of kin, accepted remains, purported to be Victor's. His sisters, Dolores Apodaca Alfond, Eleanor Apodaca, Joyce Apodaca, and Janella Apodaca Rose, our children, and grandchildren have not accepted this identification. The so-called evidence used to support the government's identification, is no more than the word of a Vietnamese remains trader. There is no other evidence and the government admits this.
The following is a Letter to the Editor, of the Tuscaloosa newspaper, in response to their article: "We read your article titled "Finally at Rest: DNA match helps Tuscaloosa man redeem memories of father who died in Vietnam" by Matt Ehlers with great interest. Unfortunately, Mr. Ehlers article was sorely lacking in some major facts.
We strongly question the identification of three small bones as the remains of our brother, Victor J. Apodaca, Jr., based on the following facts:
The remains were seized from a remains trader, many miles from the loss location.
No evidence exists to associate these remains to the Apodaca crash site.
In spite of best efforts JTF-FA recovered no personal effects or human remains from the crash site.
There is no chain of custody for the remains.
FBI testing could not confirm the authenticity of the dog tag, which may, in fact, be fake.
No evidence exists to associate dog tag to crash site.
No evidence exists to associate the dog tag to the remains subjected to mt-DNA testing.
No evidence exists to suggest these remains are those Victor J. Apodaca Jr.
By Oct. 2000, the bone and the Apodaca blood sample matched 5 others in the mt-DNA database.
CILHI, AFDIL and Mortuary are using mt-DNA as the primary or sole means of identification, in this case, violating their stated policy.
We have no closure because we have no truth. All we have are more questions.
The Sisters of Major Victor J. Apodaca, Jr. Dolores Apodaca Alfond Eleanor Apodaca Joyce Apodaca Janella Apodaca Rose
==========================
UPDATE LINE: June 29, 2001 Thank you for calling the National League of Families Update Line.
This message is being recorded Friday, June 29th. According to the Department of Defense, the number of Americans missing and unaccounted for from the Vietnam War is 1,973.
On June 20th, the League was informed that six Americans were recently accounted for. David W. Morrill and Maxim C. Parker, both USMC, were jointly recovered in South Vietnam June 9, 1993.
The remains of Victor J. Apodaca, Jr., USAF, were repatriated April 27, 1989.
The November 14, 1991 joint recovery of the remains of Harry A. Amesbury, Jr., USAF, brought an accepted identification.
And, the remains of Harley B. Pyles, USAF, and Winfield Wade Sisson, USMC, were jointly recovered in South Vietnam on April 8, 1993.
The accounting for these six US personnel brings the number now missing and unaccounted for in Vietnam to 1,481, with 417 in Laos, 67 in Cambodia and 8 in the territorial waters of the PRC. Over 90% of the 1,973 Americans still missing from the Vietnam War were lost in areas under Vietnam's wartime control.
=====================================
NATIONAL ALLIANCE OF FAMILIES FOR THE RETURN OF AMERICA'S MISSING SERVICEMEN WORLD WAR II - KOREA - COLD WAR - VIETNAM - GULF WAR
Dolores Alfond 425-881-1499 Lynn O'Shea 718-846-4350 Web Site http://www.nationalalliance.org Email lynnpowmia@prodigy.net
March 2, 2002 Bits N Pieces
##################
Animal Bones or Human No one has ever explained how bones determined to be animal where finally identified as Air Force Major Victor Apodaca.
Remains purported to be those of Victor Apodaca were returned, by the Vietnamese on July 13th 1998. According to a memo dated 9 March 2000 and signed by Thomas D. Holland, PhD, DABFA, Scientific Director at CI-HI states: "Documents supplied by the S.R.V. indicated that the remains accessioned as CILHI 131-88 were those of "Busch John T." [sic] while those accessioned as CILHI 0132-88 were those of "Apodaca Victor J., Jr....."
"... The latter accession included an identification tag for "Apodaca Victor J. Jr. Subsequent laboratory analysis demonstrated that the remains attributed to Maj. Apodaca, i.e., CILHI 0132-88, were in fact non-human."
The Vietnamese tried again to repatriate remains purported to be Victor Apodaca on April 27th 1989 -A 9 March 2001 report states; "Based on unilateral research, the S.R.V. associated the remains in Box 19 with "Apodaca Victor."
The determination of the remains, from the second repatriation, as human is confusing. Of this second remains repatriation, a September 8th 1989 message regarding "ID Status - Remains from SRV" states Box 19 contained "no teeth and consist of two portions of left hip bone and one portion of a talus (foot) bone. The age of the individual represented can only be assessed as adult. Nothing else can be determined. The box also contained nine non-human mammalian bone fragments and eight unidentifiable bone fragments which may be of human origin."
However, a Sept. 22nd 1989 message states: "Apodaca, Victor J. Jr; 0727 Quang Binh: recovered from remains dealers. Repatriated to the U.S. twice with dog tag. The U.S. side reports the remains were animal bones." (Note this is misleading in that the dog tag was not repatriated with the remains but were handed over with a group of dog tags and had no association with any remains.")
A document located in the file of another servicemen sheds more light on the question of animal or human bones relating to Major Apodaca. Originated by the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the message is dated 04 Feb. 1991. Its subject is "Response to Vietnamese Request for Information on Repatriated Remains." The message directed to JCRC (Joint Casualty Resolution Center - predecessor of the Joint Task Force - Full Accounting - JTF-FA) Liaison Bangkok TH, reads as follows:
"1. During the course of the early January information/research meetings in Hanoi, the Vietnamese requested a detailed statistical summary of the status of repatriated remains focusing on identification."
"2. The IAG (Inter Agency Group) requests that JCRC/LNO provide the following information to the Embassy of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam using the talking points specified below:"
"Begin Talking Points: During the early January information/research meeting in Hanoi the delegation led by Dang Nghien Bai requested and up-to-date statistical account of identification from the remains which Vietnam has repatriated to the custody of the United States from March 1974 to 20 November 1990."
"This document prepared by CILHI, responds to that request...."
Prepared by CILHI, that's important to remember.
The text of the document reads : "During the period from 6 March 1974 to 20 November 1990 remains were repatriated on 32 different occasions."
" A total of 432 boxes containing 451 remains were transferred by Vietnam to the custody of the United States."
" Out of that number, the remains of two hundred and fifty eight (258) U.S. and third country nationals have been identified and accounted for. Bartsch, case number 1433 was a German civilian."
" Seventy one (71) sets or remains were determined to be of Asian Mongoloid origin. Fifty eight (58) of these 71 remains have been returned to Vietnam Thirteen (13) remains will be ready for return to Vietnam during the next repatriation."
" Three remains were determined to be of non-human origin. The VNOSMP associated those three cases with case number 1955 (B-52 incident with four bodies not recovered (BNR), case number 0727 (Apodaca), and case number 0459 (Robertson.)"
So in February of 1990 the CILHI position was that remains repatriated as Apodaca were that they were non- human. Nowhere is there a document stating that anyone at CILHI made an error in their original determination that the bones were non-human. There is no explanation as to how the bones once determined to be non-human became human or how a trained anthropologist could have mistaken them as non-human.
There is more, but we will save it for another time. All we can say is.... it doesn't bode well......
=======================================
| December 2, 2007 It saddens me to inform our members and friends of the passing of David Alfond, husband of National Alliance of Families Chairperson Dolores Alfond. David passed late last night of complications from open heart surgery. During their more than 40 years of marriage, David was a constant support both emotionally and financially of Dolores’ POW/MIA efforts. Few know that years ago, he and Dolores traveled to Thailand so that Dolores could visit a refugee camp in search of POW/MIA information. During the early years of the Alliance, David supplied much of our financial backing. Once able to exist on our own, David continued to manage our books and offer guidance. I only met David once but we got to know each other over many years of phone conversations. David had a wonderful New England accent. He was a gentleman with a great sense of humor, who never took himself seriously. We had great conversations, especially during baseball season. David was a rabid Red Sox fan, and I as many of you know am a rabid Yankee fan. We also shared a great appreciation for Lox and all types of smoked salmon. Simply stated, he was a very good person. Services will be held in Boston on Thursday. Cards of condolence may be sent to: Dolores Alfond c/o National Alliance of Families P.O. Box 40327 Bellevue, WA. 98015
Lynn O'Shea
|
2010 It
is with profound sadness we inform you of the passing of Dolores
Apodaca Alfond, Chairperson and founding member of the National
Alliance of Families. Dolores passed peacefully, very early
this morning (December 2nd.) Dolores came to the POW/MIA issue the day her brother Victor was shot down over North Vietnam, on June 8, 1967. After the Vietnam War, she quietly worked on her brother’s behalf. During her travels she, along with her husband David and son Michael visited Thailand. There they met with U.S. officials to discuss the POW issue and visited the refugee camps in search of information on our missing men. Her private effort went public in June of 1990, when she joined with POW/MIA families from World War II, Korea, Cold War, and the War in Southeast Asia to form the National Alliance of Families. In what can only be described as an uphill battle, Dolores made the Alliance a respected and honest advocated for our missing men and their families. Over the last 20 years, she dedicated her life to our unaccounted for POWs and MIAs. She worked tirelessly, feeding stories to the media, working the phones, writing letters, walking the halls of Congress and testifying before various Congressional Committees. She made it her life’s work to bring the issue of our POWs and MIAs to the public and hold Washington accountable for their return. Protesting the plan to lift the trade embargo against Vietnam, Dolores joined with POW/MIA family members Ann Holland, wife of T/Sgt Melvin Holland and Kathy Borah, sister of Lt. Dan Borah and Vietnam Vet Jerry Birch for a 30 day protest fast. Spending their days in a bamboo cage, the four existed on the POW diet of soup and rice. Even in her last days, she continued to ask in conversations with Lynn O’Shea “what can we do to get the POW/MIA issue moving again” or “what’s happening with H.Res 111.” She never gave up her hope that one day an American POW would return from Southeast Asia, North Korea, China or the former Soviet Union. On behalf of the Board of Directors of the National Alliance of Families, and our Research Director Lynn O’Shea, we extend our deepest sympathy to Dolores’ son Michael, daughter-in-law Barbara, grandchildren Brandon and Rachel, sisters Eleanor, Joyce, Janella and the entire Apodaca-Alfond family. Dolores will be sorely missed. Cards and notes of sympathy may be sent to: Michael Alfond P. O. Box 725 Marysville, WA 98270 -- Lynn Lynn O'Shea Director of Research National Alliance of Families for the Return of America's Missing Servicemen World War II - Korea - Cold War - Vietnam - Gulf Wars - Afghanistan |