REEDER, WILLIAM SPENCER JR. Name: William Spencer Reeder, Jr. Rank/Branch: O3/US Army Unit: 361st Aerial Weapons Company Date of Birth: Home City of Record: Lake Arrowhead CA Date of Loss: 09 May 1972 Country of Loss: South Vietnam Loss Coordinates: 144110N 1074001E (YB872252) Status (in 1973): Released POW Category: Acft/Vehicle/Ground: AH1G Refno: 1847 Other Personnel in Incident: John Timothy "Tim" Conry, KIA, body recovered, pilot Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 01 April 1991 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 with information from Col. Reeder. REMARKS: 730327 RELSE BY PRG SYNOPSIS: The Bell Aircraft AH1 Huey Cobra came into being as a result of a crash program initiated by the U.S. Army when the Vietnam War revealed the need for a fast, well-armed helicopter to provide escort and fire support for the CH47A Chinook. From initial orders in April 1966, the Army stores grew to 838 AH1Gs by the Spring of 1968. The "Cobra" had greater speed, better armor, and better armaments than its predecessor and demonstrated well their ability to attack accurately enemy positions (and even kill enemy tanks), and to absorb punishment. Capt. William S. "Bill" Reeder Jr. was onboard an AH1G on a combat mission in South Vietnam on May 9, 1972. The precise nature of the mission is not known, but during the mission, the helicopter was shot down and Reeder was taken prisoner by the Vietnamese. His location at the time of capture was in Kontum Province, South Vietnam, near the border of Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. As far as the U.S. Army was concerned, Reeder was Missing in Action. It had no information regarding his capture until he was released the following March. In February 1974, after 591 Americans had been released from prison camps in Vietnam in the spring of 1973, released ARVN POWs reported and identified Melvin Finch, an Army Captain who has been missing since March 30, 1972, and returnee Reeder, as two U.S. Army captains they had been held with before the two Americans were moved north. Nearly 2500 Americans remain missing or otherwise unaccounted for in Vietnam. Since the war ended, over 10,000 reports concerning missing Americans in Southeast Asia have been received by the U.S. Government. Many experts are completely convinced that hundreds of Americans are still held captive. One set of critics say that the U.S. has done little to address the issue of live POWs, preferring the politically safer issue of remains return. Others place the blame on the Vietnamese, for using the issue of POW/MIA to their political advantage. Regardless of blame, no living American has returned through the efforts of negotiations between the countries, and the reports continue to pour in. Are we doing enough to bring these men home? SOURCE: WE CAME HOME copyright 1977 Captain and Mrs. Frederic A Wyatt (USNR Ret), Barbara Powers Wyatt, Editor P.O.W. Publications, 10250 Moorpark St., Toluca Lake, CA 91602 Text is reproduced as found in the original publication (including date and spelling errors). WILLIAM S. REEDER Captain - United States Army Shot Down: May 9, 1972 Released: March 27, 1973 I enlisted in the Army in 1965 and graduated from Artillery Officer Candidate School in August 1966. After serving one year in the Fifth Mechanized Infantry Division, I entered fixed-wing flight training. I left for Viet Nam in October 1968. On March 1, 1969, I was shot down but managed to outrun the enemy soldiers and was rescued after one very long hour on the ground. In February 1970 I began study at the University of Nebraska in Omaha under the army's degree completion program. I received my degree in June 1971 and went to helicopter qualification training. As a platoon commander, my second tour of duty began in December 1971. I was a pilot of a Cobra helicopter gunship, flying support for South Vietnamese forces when I was shot down. My front seater, First Lieutenant John T. "Tim" Conry, a fine officer and a good friend, died from injuries received in the crash. I managed to avoid capture for three days, but soon they heard me and five North Vietnamese soldiers surrounded me. My back was broken and I had one crushed vertebra. I shrank about one inch during my eleven months in captivity. The interrogator tied me to a tree and questioned me for three hours, slapping me around a little. However, even though the interrogating continued for three days, I refused to sign statements that I had dropped gases, firebombs, or germs. We hiked through the jungle for three days. I was forced to carry a rucksack full of uncooked rice. With my broken back and a wound in my ankle, this was very painful. We came to my first POW camp in Northern Cambodia. I was placed in a 12 x 40 by 4 1/2 foot cage of bamboo with 25 South Vietnamese prisoners. I was the only American. The prisoners were all piled up. They had a wooden stock through the center of the cage into which they put our feet at night and closed it. After two weeks I was moved to a cage with one other American and four Vietnamese. It was 5 1/2 by 10 feet. Shortly thereafter we began our walk to North Viet Nam, 200 miles up and down mountains. The other American died en route. My ankle became so infected, even my knee was twice its size from the spreading infection. They told me they would have to amputate, but I asked that they try penicillin, even though I had previously been very allergic to it. For some reason the adverse reaction to the drug never occurred, and by the time I reached Hanoi, the wound was almost healed. I have been simply overwhelmed by every aspect of my return. It has been the most wonderful experience of my life. I have a brave and patriotic wife, Amy, and two fine children, Spencer, aged six, and Vicki, two. Through my experiences I have developed a greater love for my country and an appreciation of our freedoms. After seeing a Communist society first hand, I am further dedicated to preserving the principles of democracy established on this continent by the American Revolution. I would like to thank my friends and neighbors and all Americans for their concern and support and my government for bringing me home with my head held high. William Reeder Jr. retired from the United States Army as a Colonel. He and his wife Melanie reside in Kansas. He is currently pursuing his Doctorate.