Bio, Williamson, James D.

WILLIAMSON, JAMES DANIEL
Remains ID announced 08/06/2007

Name: James Daniel Williamson
Rank/Branch: SP4/US Army
Unit: 176th Aviation Company, 14th Aviation Battalion, 23rd Infantry
Division (Americal)
Date of Birth: 24 September 1942 (Wichita Falls TX)
Home City of Record: Tumwater WA
Date of Loss: 05 January 1968
Country of Loss: Laos
Loss Coordinates: 161907N 1063445E (XD701021)
Status (in 1973): Missing In Action
Category: 4
Acft/Vehicle/Ground: UH1D
Refno: 0967

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 2007.

Other Personnel In Incident: Dennis C. Hamilton; John T. Gallagher; Ernest
F. Briggs; Sheldon D. Schultz (all missing); (indigenous team members,
names, numbers, fates unknown)

REMARKS: NO SIGN OF CREW

SYNOPSIS: On January 5, 1968, WO Dennis C. Hamilton, aircraft commander; WO
Sheldon D. Schultz, pilot; SP5 Ernest F. Briggs, Jr., crew chief; SP4 James
P. Williamson, crewman, and SSgt. John T. Gallagher, passenger; were aboard
a UH1D helicopter (tail # 66-1172) on a mission to infiltrate an indigenous
reconnaissance patrol into Laos.

The reconnaissance patrol and SSgt. Gallagher were operating under orders to
Command & Control North, MACV-SOG (Military Assistance Command, Vietnam
Studies and Observation Group). MACV-SOG was a joint service high command
unconventional warfare task force engaged in highly classified operations
throughout Southeast Asia. The 5th Special Forces channeled personnel into
MACV-SOG (although it was not a Special Forces group) through Special
Operations Augmentation (SOA), which provided their "cover" while under
secret orders to MACV-SOG. The teams performed deep penetration missions of
strategic reconnaissance and interdiction which were called, depending on
the time frame, "Shining Brass" or "Prairie Fire" missions.

As the aircraft approached the landing zone about 20 miles inside Laos south
of Lao Bao, it came under heavy 37mm anti-aircraft fire while at an altitude
of about 300 feet above ground level. The aircraft immediately entered a
nose-low vertical dive and crashed.

Upon impact with the ground, the aircraft burst into flames which were 10 to
20 feet high. No radio transmissions were heard during the helicopter's
descent, nor were radio or beeper signals heard after impact. Four attempts
to get into the area of the downed helicopter failed due to intense ground
fire.

During the next two days more attempts to get to the wreckage failed. The
pilot of one search helicopter maneuvered to within 75 feet of the crash
site before being forced out by enemy fire. The pilot who saw the wreckage
stated that the crashed helicopter was a mass of burned metal and that there
was no part of the aircraft that could be recognized. No signs of life were
seen in the crash area.

Weather delayed further search attempts for a couple of days. After the
weather improved, the successful insertion of a ground team was made east of
the crash site to avoid enemy fire. The team was extracted after the second
day, finding nothing. The crash site was located near the city of Muong Nong
in Savannakhet Province, Laos.

Nearly 600 Americans were lost in Laos. The Pathet Lao insisted that the
"tens of tens" of Americans they held would only be released from Laos, but
the U.S. did not officially recognize the communist faction in Laos and did
not negotiate for American prisoners being held by them. Not one American
held by the Lao was ever released.

Alarmingly, evidence continues to mount that Americans were left as
prisoners in Southeast Asia and continue to be held today. Unlike "MIAs"
from other wars, most of the nearly 2500 men and women who remain missing in
Southeast Asia can be accounted for. Perhaps the crew of the helicopter did
not survive the crash, but until there is positive proof of their deaths, we
cannot forget them. If even one was left behind at the end of the war,
alive, (and many authorities estimate the numbers to be in the hundreds), we
have failed as a nation until and unless we do everything possible to secure
his freedom and bring him home.

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

NEWS RELEASES from the United States Department of Defense

No. 970-07 IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 06, 2007
Media Contact: (703) 697-5131/697-5132
Public/Industry(703) 428-0711

Soldiers Mia From Vietnam War Are Accounted For

The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced
today that group remains of five U.S. servicemen, missing in action from
the Vietnam War, will be returned to their families soon for burial with
full military honors.

They are Chief Warrant Officer Dennis C. Hamilton, of Barnes City, Iowa;
Chief Warrant Officer Sheldon D. Schultz, of Altoona, Pa.; Sgt. 1st Class
Ernest F. Briggs Jr., of San Antonio, Texas; Sgt. 1st Class John T.
Gallagher, of Hamden, Conn.; and Sgt. 1st Class James D. Williamson, of
Olympia, Wash.; all U.S. Army.The group remains of this crew will be buried
on Aug. 14 at Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C.Gallagher's
remains were individually identified, and his burial date is being set by
his family.

Representatives from the Army met with the next-of-kin of these men to
explain the recovery and identification process, and to coordinate interment
with military honors on behalf of the Secretary of the Army.

On Jan. 5, 1968, these men crewed a UH-1D helicopter that was inserting a
patrol into Savannakhet Province, Laos.As the aircraft approached the
landing zone, it was struck by enemy ground fire, causing it to nose over
and crash.There were no survivors.All attempts to reach the site over the
next several days were repulsed by enemy fire.

Between 1995 and 2006, numerous U.S./Lao People's Democratic Republic
/Socialist Republic of Vietnam teams, all led by the Joint POW/MIA
Accounting Command (JPAC), conducted more than five investigations,
including interviews with Vietnamese citizens who said they witnessed the
crash.Between 2002 and 2006, JPAC led three excavations of the site,
recovering remains and other material evidence including identification
tags for Schultz, Hamilton and Briggs.

Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence,
scientists from JPAC also used dental comparisons in the identification of
the remains.

For additional information on the Defense Department's mission to account
for missing Americans, visit the DPMO Web site at http:// www.dtic.mil/dpmo
or call (703) 699-1169.

-------------------------

News : Ż South Sound Published August 07, 2007
-----------------------------
Woman finds relief in MIA news

Christian Hill
The Olympian

Nicole Ross of Olympia used to daydream in class that her father had come
home.

Army Sgt. 1st Class James D. Williamson and four other soldiers went missing
in action in 1968 when their helicopter was shot down over Laos during the
Vietnam War. Ross was 5 when it happened.

On Aug. 14, the remains of her father and three of the four other soldiers
will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C. The
remains of the fifth service member will be buried later.

For years after he went missing, Ross held a glimmer of hope that her father
might be alive.

"That gets really draining at times, so it's a relief in a lot of ways," she
said of the return of her father's remains. "I'm just happy that he's going
to be home. He might not necessarily be in Washington state, but I think
it's really important."

On Monday, the Department of Defense announced that the remains of the
soldiers would be returned to their families.

The other soldiers were identified as Chief Warrant Officer Dennis C.
Hamilton of Barnes City, Iowa; Chief Warrant Officer Sheldon D. Schultz of
Altoona, Pa.; Sgt. 1st Class Ernest F. Briggs Jr., of San Antonio; and Sgt.
1st Class John T. Gallagher of Hamden, Conn.

Ross, her husband, Joseph, and their children, Jim, 14, and Shelby, 11, will
attend the burial with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery.
Their son is named after Ross' father.

Williamson graduated from Olympia High School in 1960. He served a brief
stint in the National Guard before enlisting in the Army in 1964. He was 25
when he went missing.

Ross said she was raised by her grandparents and has few memories of her
father. What she learned about him was from the photos and letters that her
father sent from overseas that her grandparents kept.

Williamson was a gunner aboard the Huey helicopter that was shot down Jan.
5, 1968.

Between 2002 and 2006, the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command led three
excavations of the crash site after locating it, recovering remains and
other evidence including dog tags for three of the soldiers, Defense
Department officials said.

The command also used dental records, forensic identification and
circumstantial evidence to identify the remains, department officials said.

Ross, 45, was notified in May that her father's remains had been identified.

Her grandparents became founding members of the National League of Families
after their son went missing in action. The league works to ensure the
remains of service members killed in Southwest Asia during the Vietnam War
are returned home.

"They were active and involved, and that's how I got active and involved,"
she said.

Ross is the league's former state coordinator and spoke during the 1987
dedication of the Vietnam Veterans memorial at the Capitol Campus, which
bears her father's name. She is the assistant director of the state
Department of Revenue's compliance division.

Her grandfather, John Williamson, died in 1999. Her grandmother, Bernice
Williamson, died last month. She was afflicted with Alzheimer's disease, and
Ross was never able to get her to understand her son finally was coming
home.

"I was very lucky to have that relationship," she said. "I got to know him
through them."

Christian Hill covers the city of Lacey and military for The Olympian. He
can be reached at 360-754-5427 or chill@theolympian.com.