GANLEY, RICHARD OWEN
REMAINS RETURNED 11/93 IDENTIFIED 10/95
| Name: Richard Owen Ganley Rank/Branch: O3/US Air Force Unit: 41st Tactical Airlift Squadron, Ubon Airfield, Thailand Date of Birth: 22 September 1940 Home City of Record: Keene NH Date of Loss: 24 November 1969 Country of Loss: Laos Loss Coordinates: 154900N 1064600E (YC902495) Status (in 1973): Missing in Action Category: 2 Acft/Vehicle/Ground: C130A Refno: 1530 |
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Other Personnel in Incident: Michael D. Balamonti; Earl C. Brown; Rexford J.
Dewispelaere; Charles R. Fellenz; Larry I. Grewell; Peter R. Matthes; Donald
L. Wright (all missing)
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 2020.
REMARKS:
SYNOPSIS: On November 24, 1969, a C130A departed Ubon Airfield, Thailand on
an operational mission over Laos. The crew aboard the aircraft included Maj.
Michael D. Balamonti (the navigator); Capt. Earl C. Brown; Capt. Richard O.
Ganley; 1Lt. Peter R. Matthes (the copilot); and Sgts. Donald L. Wright;
Larry I. Grewell; Charles R. Fellenz; and Rexford J. DeWispelaere.
While on the mission, near Ban Bac, Savannakhet Province, Laos, the C130 was
observed to be struck by several rounds of 37mm anti-aircraft fire, burst
into flames, crash to the ground, and explode on impact. All the crew was
declared Missing in Action, but due to enemy presence in the area, it was
strongly felt that the enemy could account for them. It was not determined
whether the crew died or survived the crash of the aircraft.
The crew of the C130 are among nearly 600 Americans who were lost in Laos.
When Dr. Henry Kissinger negotiated President Nixon's Peace Agreements in
Paris in 1973, ending American involvement in the Vietnam War, the Americans
lost in Laos were forgotten. Kissinger did not negotiate for them, even
though several were known to be Prisoners of War, and some 125 of them were
known to have survived their loss incidents. Furthermore, the Pathet Lao
stated on several occasions that they held "tens of tens" of American
prisoners.
The nearly 600 Americans lost in Laos have never been negotiated for, and
not one American held in Laos was released at the end of the war.
Why did we abandon the men who served our country? What are we doing
to bring them home?
http://www.sentinelsource.com/brother-missing-in-action-overseas-kept-in-memory-at-home/article_4bd9a760-8363-5760-8928-144861ae42b3.html
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01/2020
https://dpaa.secure.force.com/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt000000sjb0aEAA
On October 2, 1995, Joint Task Force-Full Accounting (JTF-FA,
now DPAA) identified the remains of Lieutenant Colonel Richard
Owen Ganley, missing from the Vietnam War.
Lieutenant Colonel Ganley joined the U.S. Air Force from New
Hampshire and was a member of the 41st Tactical Airlift
Squadron. On November 24, 1969, he was a navigator aboard a
C-130A Hercules on a forward air control mission over Laos.
While operating near Ban Salou, the Hercules was shot down by
anti-aircraft fire, and Lt Col Ganley was killed in the crash.
Immediate search and rescue efforts were prevented by heavy
enemy presence in the area, and a friendly aircraft that later
passed over the crash site saw no signs of survivors. In 1993, a
joint U.S. and Laotian search team recovered remains from a
crash site associated with Lt Col Ganley's C-130A. In 1995,
forensic analysis identified some of the recovered remains as
those of Lt Col Ganley.
Lieutenant Colonel Ganley is memorialized on the Courts of the
Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
If you are a family member of this serviceman, you may contact your casualty office representative to learn more about your service member.
