LOMAX, RICHARD EUGENE

Name: Richard Eugene Lomax
Rank/Branch: E4/US Army
Unit: Company A, 3rd Btn, 7th Infantry, 199th Light Infantry Brigade
Date of Birth: 16 November 1946
Home City of Record: Mansfield OH
Date of Loss: 26 March 1968
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 110546N 1065542E
Status (in 1973): Killed/Body Not Recovered
Category: 4
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: Ground
Refno: 1104

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.

Other Personnel In Incident: (none missing)

REMARKS:

SYNOPSIS:  Richard Lomax was a rifleman assigned to Company A, 3rd
Battalion, 7th Infantry of the 199th Light Infantry Brigade in Vietnam.  He
was stationed in Bien Hoa Province, Republic of Vietnam.

At 0800 hours on March 26, 1968, SP4 Lomax was assigned the task of setting
demolition charges on an enemy bunker complex found by his platoon while on
a search and destroy mission.  While placing the charges, there was an
explosion in the immediate area of SP4 Lomax and he was never seen again.

The search was made for his remains, but the only items recovered were some
equipment and remains identified as belonging to another individual who was
also at the site.

SP4 Lomax is listed with honor among the missing because no remains were
found. His case seems quite clear.  For others who are listed missing,
resolution is not as simple.  Many were known to have survived their loss
incident.  Quite a few were in radio contact with search teams and
describing an advancing enemy. Some were photographed or recorded in
captivity.  Others simply vanished without a trace.

When the war ended, refugees from the communist-overrun countries of
Southeast Asia began to flood the world, bringing with them stories of live
GI's still in captivity in their homelands.  Since 1975, over 6000 such
stories have been received.  Many authorities believe that hundreds of
Americans are still held in the countries in Southeast Asia.

The U.S. Government operates on the "assumption" that one or more men are
being held, but that it cannot "prove" that this is the case, allowing
action to be taken.  Meanwhile, low-level talks between the U.S. and Vietnam
proceed, yielding a few sets of remains when it seems politically expedient
to return them, but as yet, no living American has returned.