DOUGLAS, THOMAS EVAN
Name: Thomas Evan Douglas Rank/Branch: E4/US Marine Corps Unit: HMM 362, MAG 36 Date of Birth: 08 November 1938 Home City of Record: Northwest Warren OH Date of Loss: 22 November 1965 Country of Loss: South Vietnam Loss Coordinates: 151605N 1085022E (BT720060) Status (in 1973): Missing In Action Category: 2 Acft/Vehicle/Ground: UH34D Refno: 0195
Other Personnel In Incident: Richard A. Miller; Victor J. Pirker; Francis E. Visconti (all missing)
Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 15 October 1990 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 2003.
REMARKS:
SYNOPSIS: On November 22, 1965, Capt. Francis E. Visconti was the pilot of a UH34D helicopter flying with other aircraft on a combat mission in South Vietnam. Bad weather forced Visconti's aircraft out to sea about halfway between Chu Lai and Quang Ngai, and he was separated from the rest of the group.
Also onboard the aircraft were Capt. Richard A. Miller, Cpl. Thomas E. Douglas, and Cpl. Victor J. Pirker, all from the same unit. The helicopter went down and all four Marines were classified Missing in Action. The casualty is listed as battle related, which means the aircraft was probably hit by enemy fire. The U.S. believes that the Vietnamese could account for the four men.
There has been no word of any of the crew of that ill-fated chopper since that day. The Vietnamese have denied any knowledge of them.
Evidence mounts that Americans are still alive in Southeast Asia. There have been hundreds of eye-witnesses who have said they personally saw them. It is not known whether any of the crew of the UH34 helicopter survived and are among those said to be alive and still held prisoner, but someone's brother, son, husband, or father is alive. We owe them our very best effort to bring them home.
Richard A. Miller and Francis E. Visconti were promoted to the rank of Major, Thomas E. Douglas to the rank of Staff Sergeant during the period they were maintained missing.
======================= Subj:POW / MIAs Date:4/20/2003 2:49:50 PM Eastern Daylight Time From:OutAGas88
Hello, I'm the daughter of Thomas E. Douglas. The name on your MIA / POW braclet. I just wanted to tell you how touched I am to find out there are still people wearing a braclet with my dads name on it. Our goverment wants to forget about all these men how they are still unaccounted for, but people like you refuse to forget. And its awsome to find out that you are only about 1 hour from me. When my family took our vac. last summer we stopped in washington, so my kids could see the WALL. And at one of the little stands , I was looking through all the braclets that they had, and to my surprise, I found one with my dads name on it. It was the only braclet they had from Ohio. Was that not a blessing from GOD ??? I started to cry my eyes out standing there , the man working took the braclet out of the little bag and handed it to me. He said that was the least he could do. I put it on and vowed never to take it off, until my dad comes home where he belongs. This is so very hard for me, beacuse I feel that the USG took such a very important part of my life away from me. I was only 1 year old when my dad left, so I dont really know him , but bottom line, hes my DAD , and I love him so very much. I will never give up hope. It may not be in this life but 1 day I will be with him , and then no one will ever take him away again. So I just want to say from the very bottom of my heart , THANK YOU again for not forgetting the "forgotten." My love goes out to you. If you would like to e-mail me some time , my e-mail address is outagas88@aol.com And my name is Deanna. I will be looking forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Deanna