SMITH, GENE ALBERT

Remains Returned December 1988

Name: Gene Albert Smith
Rank/Branch: O4/US Navy
Unit: Attack Squadron 155, USS CONSTELLATION (CVA-64)
Date of Birth: 18 April 1933
Home City of Record: Salt Lake City UT
Date of Loss: 27 June 1966
Country of Loss: North Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 192000N 1054800E (WG831505)
Status (in 1973): Missing In Action
Category: 2
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: A4E
Refno: 0375

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.

Other Personnel in Incident: (none missing)

REMARKS:

SYNOPSIS: Lieutenant Commander Gene Smith was a pilot assigned to Attack
Squadron 155 onboard the USS CONSTELLATION. On June 27, 1966, LtCdr.
Smith was flying the number three aircraft in a flight of four A4 "Skyhawk"
aircraft in an attack against numerous large barges in North Vietnam.

The division rolled in with about a 5 second interval between aircraft. The
pilots made an attack on a different barge. After the leader made his attack
and started to turn right and then left, he observed a large fireball on the
ground similar to napalm. It was about 1/2 mile west of the canal in which
the barges were located.

One of the other pilots stated that he did not have LtCdr. Smith in sight.
They initiated a radio check, but Smith did not respond. The remaining
flight made two circles of the fire and observed a large hole in the ground
near some houses. There appeared to be light gray or white pieces of metal
scattered in the vicinity of the hole. No parachute was seen, nor was any
radio transmission heard.

Rescue combat air patrol aircraft conducted an airborne search of the crash
area for two hours, but could pick up no trace of LtCdr. Smith. Because his
aircraft was not observed from the time he commenced his attack run until it
hit the ground, it was the belief of the other pilots that his aircraft was
probably hit by enemy fire and crashed. Gene Smith was placed in Missing In
Action status.

In December 1988, the Vietnamese "discovered" the remains of Gene Smith and
returned them to U.S. control. Smith had been promoted to the rank of
Commander while he was missing.

For 22 years, the Vietnamese denied any knowledge of Gene Smith or his
whereabouts. They also deny knowledge of any others among the nearly 2500
still missing, even though some were known to have been held alive as POWs.

By mid-1989 nearly 10,000 reports regarding missing Americans have been
received by the U.S. Government which convince many experts that hundreds of
our fellow countrymen are still alive in Southeast Asia. Whether Commander
Smith was able to eject from his crippled aircraft just before it crashed
near those houses on June 27, 1966, or whether he died in the crash is
unknown. What is known is that there are Americans who continue to survive
in prison camps in Southeast Asia today. Whatever their numbers and
identities, they are entitled to the basic human right America is founded on
- freedom.

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02/2020

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