HEIDEMAN, THOMAS EDWARD Remains Identified 04/06/2001 Announcecd 06/03/2002
Name: Thomas Edward Heideman Branch/Rank: United States Air Force/E7 Unit: Date of Birth: 08 June 1933 Home City of Record: CHICAGO IL Date of Loss: 24 October 1970 Country of Loss: LAOS Loss Coordinates: 173958 North 1054000 East Status (in 1973): Killed In Action/Body Not Recovered Category: 2 Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: CH3C #13287 Missions: Other Personnel in Incident: Refno: 1670
Source: Compiled by P.O.W. NETWORK from one or more of the following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews and CACCF = Combined Action Combat Casualty File. Updated 2002.
REMARKS:
CACCF/CRASH/AIRCREW
Married, 5 children Wife deceased, son deceased =============================
USAF Helicopter Crew Losses - Vietnam War Compiled by Jim Henthorn, Former Sgt., 21 st SOS
Tail No: 66-13287 Model: CH-3E Date of Loss: 24 Oct 70 Unit: 21st SOS, 56th SOW Country of Loss: Laos Call Sign: Knife 33
Pilot: Craig B. Schiele (06W-19) Flight Engineer: Thomas E. Heideman (06W-19)
Notes: The helicopter was in a flight of two extracting indigenous personnel from a hill top LZ. The helicopter picked up 11 personnel and as the aircraft lifted off, it turned and fell into trees 200 meters from the LZ. A short time later, the other helicopter picked up 8 indigenous personnel who said the entire crew of the helicopter was dead; however, 20 minutes later, radio contact was made with the survivors and they, along with the body of the pilot were recovered.
No further information available at this time.
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NEWS RELEASE from the United States Department of Defense
No. 281-02 (703)697-5131(media) IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 3, 2002 (703)697-5737(public/industry)
VIETNAM WAR MIAS IDENTIFIED
The remains of two U.S. Air Force servicemen killed in action during the Vietnam War have been identified and are being returned home to their families. They are Master Sgt. Thomas E. Heideman and Capt. Craig B. Schiele, both of Chicago.
On Oct. 24, 1970, Heideman and Schiele were crewmembers of a CH-3E helicopter as the lead of a two-ship formation on a mission to extract friendly forces from Laos. Shortly after takeoff, the helicopter crashed into nearby dense jungle. Eight Laotians and two American servicemen were rescued. A rescue mission was continued the next morning, but there was no evidence of survivors. The only body recovered from the crash site at that time was later identified as the pilot, Capt. Schiele, who was subsequently buried in Bartlesville, Okla.
On Dec. 14, 1994, a U.S. - Lao team, led by Joint Task Force-Full Accounting, conducted an investigation at the crash site in the Laotian province of Khammouan. Material from the recovered wreckage included aircraft debris and personal artifacts but no human remains.
In the spring of 1995, a second joint team excavated the crash site and recovered human remains and additional personal affects that were submitted to the U.S. Army Central Identification Laboratory, Hawaii (CILHI). By compiling eyewitness accounts and other physical evidence such as personal artifacts and the human remains, the forensic scientists at CILHI identified the remains as those of Schiele and Heideman.
A group burial with full military honors for these two servicemen will be conducted June 7 at Arlington National Cemetery.
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NETWORK NOTE: - Schiele was NOT noted as a POW/MIA - but in the CACCF (Combined Action Combat Casualty File), he IS noted as BODY RECOVERED!
SCHIELE CRAIG BRIAN MILITARY SERVICE AIR FORCE COUNTRY OF CASUALTY LAOS TYPE OF CASUALTY NON-HOSTILE DIED OF OTHER CAUSES REFERENCE NUMBER 9 DATE RECORD PROCESSED OCT 70 SOCIAL SECURITY / SERVICE NUMBER 297389146 RANK CAPT PAY GRADE O3 CASUALTY DATE 10/24/70 HOME OF RECORD STEUBENVILLE, OHIO SERVICE OCCUPATION CODE * DATE OF BIRTH 08/09/43 CAUSE AIRCRAFT LOSS/CRASH NOT AT SEA AIR / NO AIR HELICOPTER AIR CASUALTY - PILOT RACE CAUCASIAN RELIGION PRESBYTERIAN LENGTH OF SERVICE IN YEARS * MARTIAL STATUS MARRIED SEX MALE US CITIZEN YES POSTHUMOUS PROMOTION NO DATE TOUR IN SE ASIA BEGAN 01/10/70 LAST RECORD LAST RECORD BODY RECOVERED YES AGE 27 COMPONENT REGULAR PROVINCE NO ENTRY COMMENTS
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06/07/02 http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news/local/3409743.htm
2002
S.C. family to attend dual funeral Associated Press
COLUMBIA - An S.C. family will bury the remains of a U.S. soldier killed in Vietnam that the Defense Department says are those of Air Force Master Sgt. Thomas Heideman.
The family, which is going to participate in the military funeral at Arlington National Cemetery just outside Washington, D.C., isn't so sure.
"They haven't been able to positively identify the remains as being him," said daughter Cathy Long of Sumter.
"This is a formality," said another daughter, Mary Ann Buonforte of Columbia. "This is the way the military closes out these cases."
The children agreed to the burial for the sake of their grandmother, Heideman's mother, who is 92. "This is something she has waited for a long time," Buonforte said. "She deserves this."
On Oct. 24, 1970, Chicago native Heideman, who had been stationed at Shaw Air Force Base in Sumter, and Capt. Craig Schiele were crew members of a CH-3E "Black Maria" helicopter.
The chopper was the lead of a two-ship formation on a clandestine mission to rescue friendly soldiers from Laos, according to the military. The flight was secret because Congress had forbidden the U.S. military from going into Laos and Cambodia, which border Vietnam.
After taking on the Laotians, the helicopter, piloted by Schiele, crashed into a dense jungle. Eight Laotians and two U.S. servicemen were rescued on the day of the crash. A search the next day turned up no additional survivors.
A body, later identified as Schiele's, was the only one recovered at that time. There were no sightings of Heideman. He was listed initially as missing in action, then "killed in action, body not returned."
Buonforte says she doesn't think her father was on the helicopter. A written statement from a staff sergeant who survived the crash said he didn't see the 36-year-old Heideman or his remains.
The Defense Department said the crash site was burned so DNA samples couldn't establish a positive identification. None of the artifacts at the site, including hundreds of bone fragments, a half-dozen teeth and pieces of a flight suit, was identified as Heideman's.
The remains, along with those of Schiele, will be buried together Friday at the ceremony at Arlington. Both names will be inscribed on a single tombstone.
The military couldn't identify the remains to the extent that would allow a separate burial, said Lt. Col. Tom Erstfeld, a spokesman for the Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office in Washington. But he said a close family member signed off on the burial plans.
The Heideman family agrees the two men deserve a decent burial, but it won't bring them closure.
"I feel there is other information the government is not willing to release to us," Buonforte said. "I'm sure they think they're doing everything they can, but if there is information out there that might shed more light on this, after 32 years, why hold it?"
Heideman's wife, Patricia, died in 1979, never knowing what happened to her husband. And his mother worried that she wouldn't be able to make it when the service -- initially planned for Sept. 13, 2001 -- was postponed because of the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.
A year after the crash, Heideman was awarded the Air Force's most prestigious award, the Distinguished Flying Cross. His wife accepted it during a ceremony at Shaw in 1971.
Of Heideman's five children, four are living. He has one other daughter who lives in Niceville, Fla. Each plans to travel to Washington for the funeral. They said their father, who loved to take photographs, fish and fly, deserves this honor