BAILEY JOHN EDWARD

Remains identified 03/17/99

Name: John Edward Bailey
Rank/Branch: United States Air Force/O3/pilot
Unit:
Date of Birth: 11 October 1936
Home City of Record: Minneapolis MN
Date of Loss: 10 May 1966
Country of Loss: North Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 171400 North  1064300 East
Status (in 1973): Presumptive Finding of Death
Category: 2
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: F105D
Missions:
Other Personnel in Incident:
Refno: 0335

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. 2020

REMARKS: SURVIVAL UNLIKELY

CACCF notes the F105 crashed

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    No. 019-M
MEMORANDUM FOR CORRESPONDENTS   March 17, 1999

The remains of three American servicemen previously unaccounted-for from
Southeast Asia have been identified and are being returned to their families
for burial in the United States.

They are identified as Navy Cmdr. John C. Mape, San Francisco, Calif.; Air
Force Maj. John E. Bailey, Minneapolis, Minn.; and Navy Petty Officer 2nd
Class John F. Hartzheim, Appleton, Wis.

On April 13, 1966, Mape was flying an armed reconnaissance mission over Nghe
Tinh Province North Vietnam when an enemy surface-to air missile struck his
A-1H Skyraider, destroying it.  Other pilots in the flight made a visual
inspection of the crash site and concluded there were no survivors.

In May 1991 a joint U.S./Vietnamese team, led by the Joint Task Force-Full
Accounting, traveled to Nghe Tinh Province and interviewed several local
witnesses who recalled the crash of a U.S. aircraft in April or May 1966.
The witnesses also indicated that the site had been heavily scavenged for
metal in the early 1990s.  The initial visit to the crash site in 1991 and a
subsequent visit in July 1993 provided little material evidence.

In August 1994 a U.S./Vietnamese team learned that a group of men
had been arrested in Dong Nai Province in late 1992 for illegally excavating
and taking remains from the crash site.  Vietnamese authorities confiscated
the remains and turned them over to U.S. anthropologists. On May 10, 1966,
Bailey was leading a combat strike mission over Quang Binh Province, North
Vietnam.  Shortly after expending his ordnance, Bailey's F-105D Thunderchief
was seen to tumble end-over-end into the ground with its canopy in place.
Other members of the flight circled the impact area but observed no
survivor.

In 1990 a joint U.S./Vietnamese team interviewed several local villagers in
Quang Binh Province who provided information including an F-105 aircraft
data plate that appeared to correlate with Bailey's loss.  The team visited
the recorded crash site but saw no indication of wreckage.  A second visit
to that site in 1993 confirmed the absence of evidence there.

In July 1995 another joint team performed a preliminary survey of the crash
site which led to an excavation a month later.  The team located aircraft
fragments, pilot-related personal equipment as well as human remains.

On Feb. 27, 1968, Hartzheim was on board an OP-2E Neptune flying a
reconnaissance mission over Khammouan Province, Laos.  While over the target
area the aircraft was struck by an enemy 37mm antiaircraft round, causing
the radar well and bomb bay to catch fire.  Shrapnel from the explosion
struck Hartzheim.  He collapsed at the rear of the aircraft during
evacuation and was presumed dead.  The crew parachuted out of the aircraft
as it entered a steep climb before crashing.  A subsequent search and rescue
tea m succeeded in rescuing only seven of the nine crew members.

In January 1985 a unilateral turnover from a Laotian source to the Joint
Casualty Resolution Center Liaison Office in Bangkok consisted of several
bone fragments, a compass and a plastic E-and-E (Escape and Evasion) map.
The source indicated that the items were recovered near a 1968 crash site of
an U.S. aircraft in Khammouan Province.

In October and December 1994 joint U.S./Lao teams traveled to the Khammouan
Province to interview several villagers with information about the crash.
While surveying the crash site the team found aircraft wreckage, a fragment
of a possible knife sheath and human remains.  Successive visits in 1995 and
1996 recovered more remains, life support equipment and other crew-related
items.

Anthropological analysis of the remains and other evidence by the U.S. Army
Central Identification Laboratory Hawaii confirmed the identification of
Mape, Bailey and Hartzheim. With the accounting of these three servicemen,
2,069 Americans are listed as unaccounted-for from the Vietnam War.

The U.S. government welcomes and appreciates the cooperation of the
government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the Lao People's
Democratic Republic, which resulted in the accounting of these servicemen.
We hope that such cooperation will bring increased results in the future.
Achieving the fullest possible accounting for these Americans is of the
highest national priority.

-END-

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01/2020

https://dpaa.secure.force.com/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt000000qGXU7EAO

MAJ JOHN EDWARD BAILEY

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On February 19, 1999, the Joint Task Force-Full Accounting (JFA-FA, now DPAA) identified the remains of Major John Edward Bailey, missing from the Vietnam War.

Major Bailey joined the U.S. Air Force from Minnesota and was a member of the 469th Tactical Fighter Squadron. On May 10, 1966, he piloted an F-105D Thunderchief (tail number 62-4255) on a combat mission over enemy territory in Vietnam. Major Bailey's aircraft was downed by enemy ground fire during the mission, and he was killed in the crash. Heavy enemy presence in the area prevented searches for his remains. In 1995, a Joint U.S./Vietnamese team excavated the Thunderchief's crash site and recovered human remains. In 1999, forensic analysis was able to identify the recovered remains as those of Maj Bailey.

Major Bailey is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. 

If you are a family member of this serviceman, you may contact your casualty office representative to learn more about your service member.