EIDSMOE, NORMAN EDWARD
Remains returned 12/09/99
Name: Norman Edward Eidsmoe
Rank/Branch: O4/US Navy
Unit: Attack Squadron 165, USS RANGER (CVA 61)
Date of Birth: 02 May 1933 (Bismark ND)
Home City of Record: Rapid City ND
Date of Loss: 26 January 1968
Country of Loss: North Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 184400N 1054000E
Status (in 1973): Missing In Action
Category: 4
Acft/Vehicle/Ground: A6A
Refno: 1004
Others in Incident: Michael E. Dunn (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 1998.
REMARKS:
SYNOPSIS: The Grumman A6 Intruder is a two-man all weather, low-altitude,
carrier based attack plane, with versions adapted as aerial tanker and
electronic warfare platform. The A6A primarily flew close-air-support,
all-weather and night attacks on enemy troop concentrations, and night
interdiction missions. Its advanced navigation and attack system, known as
DIANE (Digital Integrated Attack Navigation Equipment) allowed small
precision targets, such as bridges, barracks and fuel depots to be located
and attacked in all weather conditions, day or night. The planes were
credited with some of the most difficult single-plane strikes in the war,
including the destruction of the Hai Duong bridge between Hanoi and
Haiphong. Their missions were tough, but their crews among the most talented
and most courageous to serve the United States.
LCDR Norman E. Eidsmoe was a pilot assigned to Attack Squadron 165 onboard
the aircraft carrier USS RANGER. On January 26, 1968, Eidsmoe launched with
his Bombardier/Navigator (BN) from the carrier in their A6A Intruder attack
aircraft on a low-level, single-plane, night strike mission into North
Vietnam. Two A4 Skyhawk and two A7 Corsair attack aircraft were scheduled to
provide mission support if required.
The flight proceeded normally to the initial run-in point at the coast. The
flight was tracked inbound to approximately 5 miles from the target at which
time radar contact was lost due to low altitude and distance from tracking
stations. Support aircraft remained on station about 30 minutes, waiting for
the attack aircraft to regain radio contact at the designated time and
position upon egress from the target area.
The support aircraft neither heard no saw the strike aircraft again. No
radio contact of any kind was heard from the aircraft. The UHF radio "guard"
frequency was monitored by all the support aircraft until low fuel states
required their return to ship. No surface-to-air missile (SAM) launches were
received and no anti-aircraft fire was noted by the support aircraft, even
though there were known enemy defenses in the target area including
automatic weapons, light and medium anti-aircraft artillery and one known
SAM site.
The search and rescue (SAR) expanded the following day with the sortie of
two RA5C Vigilante reconnaissance aircraft. The electronic and photographic
search produced no significant findings. It was later determined that the
aircraft had crashed approximately 7 kilometers north of the city of Vinh,
Nghe An Province, North Vietnam.
Eidsmoe and Dunn were declared Missing in Action. When 591 Americans were
returned at the end of the war, Dunn and Eidsmoe were not among them. Unlike
"MIAs" from other wars, many of the over 2300 who remain missing for can be
accounted for. And, tragically, thousands of reports have amassed indicating
that some are still held prisoner against their will.
Whether Dunn survived the downing of his plane that day in January 1968 is
unknown. What is clear, however, is that someone knows what happened to him.
It's time we learned his fate, and brought all our men home.
Michael E. Dunn graduated from Texas A & M in 1963. He was advanced to the
rank of Lieutenant Commander during the period he was maintained missing.
Norman E. Eidsmoe was promoted to the rank of Commander during the period he
was maintained missing.
-----------------------
No. 188-M
MEMORANDUM FOR CORRESPONDENTS December 9, 1999
The remains of four American servicemen previously unaccounted-for from the
Vietnam war have been identified and are being returned to their families
for burial in the United States.
They are identified as Navy Capt. Norman E. Eidsmoe, Rapid City, S.D.; Navy
Lt. Cmdr. Michael E. Dunn, Naperville, Ill.; Army Capt. David May,
Hyattsville, Md.; and Army Chief Warrant Officer Jon E. Reid, Phoenix, Ariz.
On Jan. 26, 1968, Eidsmoe and Dunn were flying a night low-level bombing
mission over North Vietnam off the carrier USS Ranger. Approximately 30
minutes after takeoff, their A-6A Intruder disappeared from the carrier's
radar, as expected. Accordingly, they radioed that they were six minutes
from the target, but no further radio contact was heard. The plane did not
return to the carrier, and a search and rescue mission was initiated, but
without results.
In 1992 and 1993, four separate investigations led a U.S.-Vietnamese team to
a Vietnamese farmer who described the crash, gave investigators a pilot's
flight bag with Dunn's name inscribed, and described his burial of some
remains in an unmarked grave. Then in 1997, a joint team conducted an
excavation in a flooded rice paddy, where they recovered remains and
pilot-related items. Another team continued the excavation in 1998 where
they recovered additional materials.
On Feb. 20, 1971, May and Reid were flying their UH-1C Huey helicopter on an
emergency resupply mission over Laos when they were hit by enemy ground fire
and crashed. A search and rescue mission was repulsed by hostile fire.
In 1994, 1996 and 1998, U.S. and Lao investigators interviewed villagers in
the area of the crash, then initiated an excavation which recovered human
remains as well as portions of an identification tag with the name "May,
David M." Analysis of the remains and other evidence by the U.S. Army
Central Identification Laboratory Hawaii confirmed the identification of
each of these four servicemen.
The U.S. government welcomes and appreciates the cooperation of the
governments of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the Lao People's
Democratic Republic that 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.
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Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Saturday, December 11, 1999 -- Pgs. A1/A6
FINALLY, CLOSURE FOR FLIER’S FAMILY
DNA tests establish identity of a Whidbey pilot shot down in 1968
By: Ed Offley
P-I Military Reporter
After a near lifetime of uncertainty and sorrow, a Western Washington
family is preparing to bury a husband and father who vanished over North
Vietnam more than 30 years ago....