THOMPSON, BENJAMIN ARTHUR JR.

Name: Benjamin Arthur Thompson Jr.
Rank/Branch: E6/US Army
Unit: Company D, 3rd Battalion, 47th Infantry, 9th Infantry Division
Date of Birth: 24 July 1945 (Satsuma AL)
Home City of Record: Saraland AL
Date of Loss: 25 October 1968
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 100835N 1062619E (XS576215)
Status (in 1973): Killed/Body Not Recovered
Category: 4
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: Ground
Refno: 1310

Other Personnel in Incident: (none missing)

Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 01 September 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: SSGT Benjamin A. Thompson, Jr. was assigned to Company D, 3rd
Battalion, 47th Infantry, 9th Infantry Division. On October 25, 1968, he was
serving in a rifle company in Kien Hoa Province about 5 miles south of Thuc
Giang in South Vietnam. Thompson's unit was crossing a stream, and Thompson
lost his balance and was caught up by the current.

Rescue attempts were made immediately but were unsuccessful. Searches were
made downstream on the day of the loss, but Thompson could not be located.
On the next two days, aerial searches were made by helicopter, but Thompson
was never found.

SSGT Thompson is listed among the missing because his body was never found
to return to his homeland. For his family, there can be the relative peace
of mind that he died. For others of the missing, however, answers are not so
simple.

For other who are missing the evidence leads not to death, but to survival.
Since the war ended, nearly 10,000 reports received relating to Americans
still held captive in Indochina have convinced experts that hundreds of men
are still alive, waiting for their country to rescue them. The notion that
Americans are dying without hope in the hands of a long-ago enemy belies the
idea that we left Vietnam with honor. It also signals that tens of thousands
of lost lives were a frivolous waste of our best men.