OVERLOCK, JOHN FRANCIS
Name: John Francis Overlock Rank/Branch: O4/US Air Force Unit: 309th Tactical Fighter Squadron, Phu Cat, SV Date of Birth: 06 April 1936 Home City of Record: Springfield MA Date of Loss: 16 August 1968 Country of Loss: North Vietnam Loss Coordinates: 173100N 1065000E (XE590445) Status (in 1973): Missing In Action Category: 4 Acft/Vehicle/Ground: F100F Refno: 1250
Others In Incident: Michael McElhanon (missing)
Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 31 April 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 1998.
REMARKS:
SYNOPSIS: All tactical strike aircraft operating in Southeast Asia had to be under the control of a Forward Air Control (FAC), who was familiar with the locale and the tactical situation. The FAC would find the target, order up U.S. fighter/bombers from an airborne command and control center or ground based station, mark the target, and control the operation throughout the time the planes remained on station. After the fighters had departed, the FAC stayed over the target to make a bomb damage assessment (BDA). The traditional FAC needed a fighter pilot's mentality, but was obliged to fly slow and low in such unarmed and vulnerable aircraft as the Cessna O1 Bird Dog, and the Cessna O2.
Another type forward air control was called the "Misty" FAC. Misty operations were flown high and fast in such aircraft as the F100, able to cover a larger area than the small, traditional aircraft flown by the "hands-on" FACs. Their role, although not usually directly in the arena of ground fire, was hazardous. The enemy had weapons to reach them, even at their greater altitude.
The North American F100 "Super Sabre" first saw action in Southeast Asia in northwest Laos in May 1962. F100 operations in Vietnam began in 1965, and took part in Operation Flaming Dart, the first U.S. Air Force strike against North Vietnam in February of that year. Further deployments of the aircraft to the area left just five F100 squadrons in the United States. Various modifications were made to the aircraft affectionately called "Hun" or "Lead Sled" by its pilots and mechanics over the early years, gradually improving night bombing capability, firing systems and target-marking systems.
Maj. Michael O. McElhanon and Maj. John F. Overlock were pilots assigned to the 309th Tactical Fighter Squadron at Phu Cat, South Vietnam. The missions they generally flew were Misty FAC operations over North Vietnam. McElhanon was rated as a pilot and Overlock as a co-pilot.
On August 16, 1968, McElhanon and Overlock were on an early mission and had already refueled once (the maximum range for the F100 is nearly 1500 miles), and had radioed the Airborne Control that they were enroute to rendezvous with a tanker over the Gulf of Tonkin for the second refueling. That was the last contact Airborne Control had with Overlock and McElhanon. They were not missed until some fifty minutes later, when a flight of fighter aircraft tried to locate them to get a fix on their target. The plane is assumed to have gone down somewhere near the city of Dong Hoi in North Vietnam's Quang Binh province.
No one knows for sure what happened to Overlock and McElhanon. If they went down close to the city, they could have been captured. If they went down over the Gulf, they may never be found.
For the next 5 years, their families waited to see if McElhanon and Overlock had been captured. When 591 prisoners were released in the spring of 1973, the two were not among them. Experts said that there were hundreds who were expected to be released and who were not. Finally, in late 1975, the U.S. Government declared the men dead, based on no specific information that they were alive.
Were it not for the thousands of reports received that Americans are still held captive, the McElhanon and Overlock families might be able to assume they died and go on with their lives. But as long as men are alive, Overlock and McElhanon could be among them. It's time we brought our men home.
Michael O. McElhanon was promoted to the rank of Colonel and John F. Overlock was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel during the period they were maintained missing.
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Discovery raises a woman's hopes Pat Mohos of Stephentown has been given reason to suspect remains from Vietnam could be her brother
By DANIELLE T. FURFARO, Staff writer First published: Tuesday, June 7, 2005
STEPHENTOWN -- Lt. Col. John Overlock might be coming home at last. Nearly 36 years after he was shot down over the Ho Chi Minh Trail, a military group created to find POW/MIAs has contacted his sister, Pat Mohos, to tell her remains that might be her brother's have been found. The most promising evidence is the serial number from his plane's ejection seat, near where the remains were found. But DNA testing, which could take years, may help to confirm it.
"It's kind of chilling, but maybe it's him and maybe it's not," said Mohos, 68, and the only remaining member of his immediate family. "It'd be nice if it was. We'd have closure."
While serving with the Air Force in Vietnam in 1968, Overlock volunteered for the risky mission of flying a "spotter" plane to locate enemy anti-aircraft guns. It was on such a mission on Aug. 16 of that year that he was shot down.
The plane was recovered, but his whereabouts have been a mystery.
Overlock's family spent years campaigning to get more help for those missing in action.
In the 1970s, his parents, Francis and Theresa, bought television and radio spots to publicize the plight of their son and other POW/MIAs.
Theresa wrote a letter to then-President Richard M. Nixon criticizing his handling of the Vietnam War and what she called his "feeble attempts" to get war prisoners released.
By the mid-1980s, both parents had died, and Mohos and another sister, Theresa Petell, conceded there was little hope their brother was still alive. On April 21, 1988, what would have been Overlock's 42nd birthday, what was left of his family held a memorial service for the airman.
Petell died two years ago.
Last week, the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command told Mohos they have what could be his remains at the Central Identification Laboratory at Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii.
DNA samples from Mohos will be compared with DNA from the remains, but officials cautioned that it could be months or even years before they have definitive results.
The military conducts an exhaustive procedure to identify remains, including testing DNA and dental records, as well as examining such personal effects as wedding bands or dog tags found near the remains, said Army Major Rumi Nielson-Green. With DNA alone, conclusive identification can be impossible.
"DNA is not the gold standard for identification," said Nielson-Green. "With mitochondrial DNA, many people in a population can share the DNA and not be related. The gold standard is really the dental records."
The process can drag on. In January 2001, the military thought that remains unearthed from Koh Tang's western beach in Cambodia could have been those of Ashton Nathaniel Loney of Albany. More than four years later, the remains still have not been conclusively identified.
While Nielson-Green would not say specifically what remains were found near Overlock's crash site, Mohos said one item gives her hope -- the serial number from the ejection seat.
"So there are other things indicating it is a strong possibility," Mohos said.
Still, these new developments have left Mohos on edge and have brought up a wealth of old emotions.
"I've been talking about it a lot, searching on the Internet," Mohos said. "My cousin and I bring out the old yearbook and talk about the things we did as a family. ... what his hopes and dreams were."
According to Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, about 1,800 military personnel -- about 130 from New York state -- still are missing from the Vietnam War.
Robert Reiter, director of the Rensselaer County Veterans Service Agency, said he hopes that the remains turn out to be Overlock's.
"It's time to give some closure to this family," he said.