BISHOP, EDWARD JAMES JR.

Name: Edward James Bishop, Jr.
Rank/Branch: E3/US Army
Unit: Company A, 2nd Battalion, 501st Infantry, 101st Airborne Division
Date of Birth: 27 January 1949
Home City of Record: Hartford CT
Date of Loss: 29 April 1970
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 162622N 1071704E (YD439188)
Status (in 1973): Missing In Action
Category: 2
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: Ground
Refno: 1608
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 1998.

SYNOPSIS: At about 2200 hours on April 29, 1970, PFC Bishop, a rifleman for
A Company, 2nd Battalion, 501st Infantry, was part of a security element at
Fire Support Base Granite in Kontum Province, South Vietnam when the
firebase came under hostile mortar and ground attack.

The platoon leader last saw PFC Bishop firing at an enemy to his front. As
the platoon leader was crawling away from Bishop's position, he looked back
and saw a large explosion and what appeared to be bodies flying through the
air. As Bishop was last seen only seconds before, indications are that he
was at the location of the blast.

The next morning, searches were conducted during which parts of another
soldier's body were found, but there was no trace of PFC Bishop. Because it
was deemed possible that he left his position and escaped the blast, PFC
Bishop was not immediately classified killed, but rather listed Missing In
Action, a classification that remained until his presumptive finding of
death some years later.

Families of missing men are taunted by the nearly 10,000 reports that have
been received since the end of American involvement in the war relating to
missing Americans in Southeast Asia. Even those whose loved one is
considered dead cannot avoid wondering if by some miracle he escaped only to
be captured. For those families whose men are specifically mentioned by name
and location, the grief is especially intense. There is absolutely nothing
they can do to bring their sons, fathers, or husbands home.

Whether Edward Bishop escaped being blown to bits by the explosion that hit
his position is unknown. What seems certain, however, is that if there is
only one man alive in Southeast Asia held against his will, we must do
everything possible to bring him home.
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