BREUER, DONALD C.

Name: Donald C. Breuer
Rank/Branch: USMC, O3
Unit: VMFA 232 MAG 15
Date of Birth: 26 October 46
Home City of Record: New York, NY
Date of Loss: 20 November 72
Country of Loss: Laos
Loss Coordinates: 163500N 1063300E
Status (in 1973): Missing in Action
Category: 2
Acft/Vehicle/Ground: F4J

Other Personnel In Incident: Captian Anderson (rescued)

Source: Compiled by THE P.O.W. NETWORK 02 February 93 from the
following published sources - POW/MIA's -- Report of the Select Committee
on POW/MIA Affairs United States Senate -- January 13, 1993. "The Senate
Select Committee staff has prepared case summaries for the priority cases
that the Administration is now investigating. These provide the facts about
each case, describe the circumstances under which the individual was lost,
and detail the information learned since the date of loss.  Information in
the case summaries is limited to information from casualty files, does not
include any judgments by Committee staff, and attempts to relate essential
facts. The Committee acknowledges that POW/MIAs' primary next-of- kin know
their family members' cases in more comprehensive detail than summarized
here and recognizes the limitations that the report format imposes on these
summaries."

On November 20, 1972, Captain Breuer and Captain Anderson were the
crew on-board an F-4J, one in a flight of two aircraft on a combat
operation over Savannakhet Province, Laos.  Their aircraft was hit
by anti-aircraft fire and crashed 35 kilometers southeast of
Tchepone and 300 meters from Route 90.  This is in an area
southwest of the Demilitarized Zone separating North and South
Vietnam.  Captain Anderson parachuted safely from the aircraft, was
located by search and rescue forces, and was recovered.  He stated
he didn't see Captain Breuer parachute from their damaged aircraft
and did not hear a beeper from him.  Captain Breuer was declared
missing in action.  

After the crash, a North Vietnamese Army unit reported on November
20th that a pilot had landed but there was no mention of the
specific type of aircraft involved and the pilot's nationality was
not given.  The report was associated with an incident occurring in
the general area of the Demilitarized Zone separating North and
South Vietnam.  An intelligence comment on this report indicated a
tentative correlation of the report to this loss incident based on
it being the only reported aircraft loss at this point in time.

On April 28, 1972, Pathet Lao radio news service reported three
U.S. aircraft were hit in Saravane Province on November 18th and
19th.  Pilots were killed in two F-4 and one T-28 air incident. 
This report was placed in the files of these individuals because of
the country of loss and date of incident.

Returning U.S. POWs during Operation Homecoming early in 1973 had
no information on Captain Breuer's fate.  After Operation
Homecoming Captain Breuer was declared killed in action, body not
recovered, based on a presumptive finding of death.

In April 1973, a North Vietnamese soldier from Binh Tram 41, 473rd
Transportation Division, Group 559, reported having seen an
American F-4 hit by antiaircraft fire and crash near the village of
Ban Dong, Savannakhet Province, east of the border with Thua Thien
Province, South Vietnam and in the area in which his division was
operating.  This is in an area west of the DMZ and in the general
area of Highway 9.  He reported seeing two parachutes.  One airman
landed and was rescued.  Later, he observed a body of an American
airman which had been stripped nude and was told the other airman
had died.  The area of the sighting was correlated to this loss
incident.

This loss incident crash site was visited by a joint U.S./Lao team
in Muong Nong District, Savannakhet Province, during 28 October-1
November 1992.  The team recovered artifacts said to have belonged
to the pilot who was rescued.  There was no specific information on
the fate of the second crewman.