CORNWELL, LEROY JASON III

Remains returned 08/94  ID'd 03/96

Name: Leroy Jason Cornwell III
Rank/Branch: O3/US Air Force
Unit: 555th Tactical Fighter Squadron, Udorn Airbase Thailand
Date of Birth: 05 August 1944
Home City of Record: Tucson AZ
Date of Loss: 10 September 1971
Country of Loss: Laos
Loss Coordinates: 192900N 1032800E (UG391653)
Status (in 1973): Missing In Action
Category: 2
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: F4D
Refno: 1771
Other Personnel In Incident: Andrew Ivan, Jr. (missing)

REMARKS:

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 1998.

SYNOPSIS: Capt. Leroy J. Cornwell was the radar intercept officer aboard an
F4D Phantom fighter bomber flown by Capt. Andrew Ivan, Jr. when it was sent
on a forward air control mission which took them over the Plaine des Jarres
in Laos on September 19, 1971.

When the Phantom and its crew failed to return to Udorn, an intensive air
search was initiated. A crash site was located near the village of Ban Ban
in Xiangkhoang Province, Laos, and air photos showed what appeared to be the
main carriage of an F4 aircraft. No sign was found of either crewmember.

The Plain of Jars region of Laos had only two months prior been taken over
by Lao tribesmen from the communists. The area had long been controlled by
the communist Pathet Lao and a continual effort had been made by the secret
CIA-directed force of some 30,000 indigenous tribesmen to strengthen
anti-communist strongholds there. The U.S. had to date committed over $284
million to the war effort in Laos. Details of this secret operation had been
released only the previous month.

Because Laos was "neutral", and because the U.S. continued to state they
were not at war with Laos (although we were regularly bombing North
Vietnamese traffic along the border and conducted assaults against communist
strongholds thoughout the country at the behest of the anti-communist
government of Laos), and did not recognize the Pathet Lao as a government
entity, the nearly 600 Americans lost in Laos were never recovered.

The Pathet Lao stated that they would release the "tens of tens" of American
prisoners they held only from Laos. At war's end, no American held in Laos
was released - or negotiated for.

Mounting evidence indicates that hundreds of Americans are still alive in
captivity in Southeast Asia. Among them could be Leroy Cornwell and Andrew
Ivan. They proudly served their country. They deserve better than
abandonment.