Bio, Bauder, James R.

BAUDER, JAMES REGINALD

Accounted for 10/11/17

Name: James Reginal Bauder
Rank/Branch: O4/U.S. Navy
Unit: Fighter Squadron 21, USS CORAL SEA (CVA-43)
Date of Birth: 17 May 1931 (San Fernando CA)
Home City of Record: La Canada CA
Date of Loss: 21 September 1966
Country of Loss: North Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 191858N 1054300E (WG753358)
Status (in 1973): Missing In Action
Category: 4
Acft/Vehicle/Ground: F4B
Refno: 0465

pre-capture photo

Other Personnel In Incident: James B. Mills (missing)

Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 01 April 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 2020.

REMARKS:

SYNOPSIS: Lt.Cdr. James R. Bauder was a pilot assigned to Fighter Squadron
21 onboard the USS CORAL SEA (CVA 43). On September 21, 1966, Bauder and
Lt.JG James B. Mills, the Naval Fighter Officer, launched with another F4B
fighter jet from the USS CORAL SEA on a night armed reconnaissance mission
over North Vietnam. Bauder was the flight leader of the flight. The assigned
route was from Cua Can to Thach Luyen along a river adjacent to Highway 1A.

Bauder briefed the mission for the two aircraft to penetrate the coast. The
wingman, Lt. Hanley, was in a 4-5 mile radar trail. Capt. Bauder dropped his
six flares at 3500 feet to illuminate the river for barges. His aircraft
then executed a starboard turn to watch for flak and surface-to-air missiles
(SAMs) as the wingman bombed targets of opportunity under the illumination
of the flares. The wingman was then to proceed straight ahead off the target
for 45 seconds and drop his flares. Bauder and Mills would follow him north
in a 4-5 mile radar trail with the intention of bombing targets illuminated
by the second series of flares.

The wingman attempted to contact Bauder by radio, but was unsucessful. He
then checked with the USS CHICAGO and the E2A air control aircraft to see if
they had radar contact with the leader's aircraft, but they did not. At no
time were any flak or SAM firings observed by the crew of the wing aircraft.
Neither crew member observed any explosions in the air or on the ground. No
signals were detected from the emergency radios carried by both Bauder and
Mills. An extensive search was conducted in the area during the night and
early morning with negative results. Bauder and Mills and their aircraft
disappeared. The two were placed in a Missing In Action category.

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http://www.aerotechnews.com/blog/2017/06/19/underwater-recovery-team-searches-for-mias-in-vietnam/

June 19, 2017

PO1 Blake Midnight
Northern Vietnam

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) deployed an Underwater Recovery Team (URT) comprised of Department of Defense civilians and U.S. Army, Navy and Air Force servicemembers to northern Vietnam in search of two U.S. Navy aviators who went missing during the Vietnam War, May 2-June 18.

The two men were on a nighttime reconnaissance mission over northeastern Nghe An and southeastern Thanh Hoa provinces when their F-4B Phantom aircraft vanished from radar, Sept. 21, 1966. To this day, the two men remain unaccounted-for.

This is not DPAA’s first mission to this site; in 2008 an underwater investigation team used remote sensing equipment to identify possible wreckage on the bottom, and then employed divers to verify what was detected. This technique led to the discovery of the aircrafts’ wreckage site.....

Remains discovered of La Cañada Vietnam War pilot James Bauder, missing since 1966

Los Angeles Times 10/11/17

Family members received occasional updates from the Navy's Casualty POW/MIA Branch, saying they'd located a piece of a plane or a speck of bone ...

.... Now, with her cousin and brother, Castellani is making arrangements to meet wi....the Navy representatives in November to get a full account of the search and what it turned up. Plans are being made to have her father’s remains interred at Arlington Cemetery with full military honors....

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01/2020

https://dpaa.secure.force.com/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt0000000BTeDEAW

CAPT JAMES REGINALD BAUDER

Return to Service Member Profiles

Conflict
Service
Status
Date of Accounting

VIETNAM WAR
UNITED STATES NAVY
Accounted For
09/08/2017

On October 11, 2017, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) identified the remains of Captain James Reginald Bauder, missing from the Vietnam War.

Captain Bauder joined the U.S. Navy from California and was a member of Fighter Squadron 21, embarked aboard the aircraft carrier USS Coral Sea (CV-43). On September 21, 1966, he was the pilot of an F4-B Phantom II (bureau number 152973, call sign "Sundown 01") when it took off from the Coral Sea as one of two aircraft on a night reconnaissance mission over North Vietnam. During the mission, CAPT Bauder's F-4B dropped flares to illuminate the target area, after which his aircraft crashed into the water off the coast of Quynh Phuong. There were no witnesses to the crash at the time, and attempts to locate the downed plane immediately following the loss were unsuccessful. CAPt Bauder was killed in the crash, and his remains were not recovered at the time. However, in 2010, an underwater recovery team located the crash site and between 2010 and 2017, investigators recovered aircraft parts and human remains. Modern forensic techniques were able to identify CAPT Bauder among the remains recovered.

Captain Bauder 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.

CAPT JAMES REGINALD BAUDER

Unit VF 21 USS CORAL SEA CVA-43
Historical Country of Loss
North Vietnam
Current Country of Loss
VIETNAM
Home of Record CA