SMITH, HAROLD VICTOR
Remains Identified 05/2000

Name: Harold Victor Smith
Branch/Rank: United States Air Force/O3
Unit: 469th TFS
Date of Birth: 11 November 1933
Home City of Record: BRIDGEPORT IL
Date of Loss: 07 March 1966
Country of Loss:  North Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 195999 North  1052500 East
Status (in 1973): Missing in Action
Category: 3
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: F105D #410
Missions:
Other Personnel in Incident:
Refno: 0266

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. Update 2000 with information from Joe Steen.

REMARKS: POSS DEAD

CACCF/CRASH/PILOT/POSTHUMOUS PROMOTION

No further information available at this time.

========================

National Alliance of Families
For The Return of America's Missing Servicemen
World War II - Korea - Cold War - Vietnam

Dolores Alfond - 425-881-1499
Lynn O'Shea --- 718-846-4350
Web Site ------- http://www.nationalalliance.org
E-mail ---------- lynnpowmia@prodigy.net

Bits 'N' Pieces		May 20, 2000			

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Remains Identified - From the Associated Press - "WASHINGTON (AP) -- An
Illinois Air Force pilot missing in action  from the Vietnam War has been
accounted for and his remains are being returned to his family for burial,
the Pentagon said Wednesday."

"He was identified as Col. Harold V. Smith of Bridgeport, Ill. Smith was
leading a four-aircraft attack against enemy  surface-to-air missile sites
in Thanh Hoa Province, North Vietnam, on March 7, 1966, when he disappeared,
the Pentagon said in a statement...."

"...U.S. and Vietnamese investigators interviewed potential witnesses and
searched again in 1993, 1994 and 1995, but neither the crash site nor human
remains were found, the Pentagon said. "

"Then in 1996, the Vietnamese government helped U.S. investigators find an
informant who led them to the burial, which was excavated in August and
September 1998, uncovering human remains and some personal items. Smith was
identified through analysis of the remains and other evidence by the U.S.
Army Central Identification Laboratory Hawaii...."

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BODY OF ILLINOISAN RETURNED FROM VIETNAM FOR BURIAL

From Tribune News Services
May 18, 2000

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- An Illinois Air Force pilot missing in action from the
Vietnam War has been accounted for and his remains are being returned to his
family for burial, the Pentagon said Wednesday.

He was identified as Col. Harold V. Smith of Bridgeport, Ill.

Smith was leading a four-aircraft attack against enemy surface-to-air
missile sites in Thanh Hoa Province, North Vietnam, on March 7, 1966, when
he disappeared. When the flight reformed after the attack, Smith's plane
failed to rejoin the group. Other members of the flight searched the area,
but couldn't find him.

U.S. and Vietnamese investigators interviewed potential witnesses and
searched again in 1993, 1994 and 1995, but neither the crash site nor human
remains were found, the Pentagon said.

Then in 1996, the Vietnamese government helped U.S. investigators find an
informant who led them to the burial, which was excavated in 1998. With the
accounting of Smith, 2,028 Americans remain missing in action from the war.