BOGIAGES, CHRISTOS CONSTANTINE JR.
Name: Christos Constantine Bogiages, Jr. Rank/Branch: O4/US Air Force Unit: 357th Tactical Fighter Squadron, Takhli Airbase, Thailand Date of Birth: 30 March 1934 Home City of Record: Clearwater FL Date of Loss: 02 March 1969 Country of Loss: Laos Loss Coordinates: 192300N 1030900E (UG056443) Status (in 1973): Missing in Action Category: 2 Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: F105D Refno: 1397 Other Personnel in Incident: (none missing)
REMARKS:
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 2004.
SYNOPSIS: The Plain of Jars region of Laos was long been controlled by the communist Pathet Lao and a continual effort was made by the secret CIA-directed force of some 30,000 indigenous tribesmen to strengthen anti-communist strongholds there. The U.S. committed hundreds of millions of dollars to the secret war effort in Laos. Details of this operation were not released to Congress and the American public until August 1971.
On March 2, 1969, Maj. Christos C. Bogiages, Jr. was sent on a mission over the Plain of Jars in Laos in an F105D Thunderchief. The "Thud" flew more missions against North Vietnam than any other U.S. aircraft, but it also suffered more losses, partially due to its vulnerability, which was constantly under revision. Maj. Bogiages aircraft went down in Xiangkhoang Province, Laos, about 5 miles southwest of the city of Ban Na Mai.
According to 1989 public information from the U.S. Air Force, Maj. Bogiages' aircraft was hit by hostile fire and crashed. No parachute was seen, and no emergency radio beeper signals were heard. According to information given to his family at the time, Maj. Bogiages survived the crash of his aircraft. His family waited for the war to end, understanding that he could have been captured, either by the Pathet Lao or the North Vietnamese.
Throughout the war, names of hundreds of Americans held by the North Vietnamese became known to the U.S. The Pathet Lao stated on a number of occasions that they also held "tens of tens" of Americans, but that they would be released only from Laos. The names of only a few of these men held in Laos were known.
When peace agreements were signed, Secretary of State Henry Kissinger informed the families of the men prisoner and missing that their men would soon come home. When asked specifically if the agreements included all countries (Vietnam, Cambodia, China and Laos), Kissinger replied, "What do you think took us so long."
When 591 American prisoners were released in the spring of 1973, it became evident that Kissinger had lied to the families. No prisoners held by the Chinese, Lao or Cambodians were released. Kissinger had not negotiated for these men.
In Laos alone, nearly 600 Americans are Prisoner of War or Missing in Action. Since 1975, nearly 10,000 reports relating to Americans still missing in Southeast Asia, convincing many authorities that hundreds of Americans are still held in captivity. It's time we brought our men home.
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A break emerges in pilot mystery
Distant relative found for DNA test to confirm remains of lost Air Force Capt.
Christos Bogiages
By BRUCE A. SCRUTON, Staff writer
First published: Thursday, May 6, 2004
A blood sample from a man in Illinois is on its way to an Air Force laboratory
and could soon determine if remains found in a Laos jungle are those of Albany
native Christos Bogiages, a
military pilot who was lost in 1969. .....