GISH, HENRY GERALD

Remains Identified 07/31/2025

Name: Henry Gerald Gish
Rank/Branch: E5/US Air Force
Unit: TDY-Civilian/Lockheed
Date of Birth: 18 December 1946
Home City of Record: Lancaster PA
Date of Loss: 11 March 1968
Country of Loss: Laos
Loss Coordinates: 202600N 1034400E (YH680600)
Status (in 1973): Killed/Body Not Recovered
Category:
Acft/Vehicle/Ground: Ground
Refno: 2052

Other Personnel In Incident: Clarence Blanton; James Calfee; James Davis;
Willis Hall; Melvin Holland; Herbert Kirk; David Price; Patrick Shannon;
Donald Springsteadah; Don Worley (all missing from Lima 85); Donald
Westbrook (missing from SAR 13 March)

Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 15 October 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 2025.

REMARKS:

SYNOPSIS: When Henry Gish volunteered for a sensitive assignment called
Project Heavy Green, his wife had to sign a secrecy agreement too. Gish, an
Air Force man, was to be temporarily relieved of duty to take a civilian job
with Lockheed Aircraft. He would be running Lima Site 85, a radar base in
Laos, whose neutrality prohibited U.S. military presence. No one was to
know.

Lima 85 was on a peak in the Annam Highlands near the village of Sam Neua on
a 5860-foot mountain called Phou Pha Thi. The mountain was protected by
sheer cliffs on three sides, and guarded by 300 tribesmen working for CIA.
Unarmed US "civilians" operated the radar which swept across the Tonkin
Delta to Hanoi.

For three months in early 1968, a steady stream of intelligence was received
which indicated that communist troops were about to launch a major attack on
Lima 85. Intelligence watched as enemy troops even built a road to the area
to facilitate moving heavy weapons, but the site was so important that
William H. Sullivan, U.S. Ambassador to Laos, made the decision to leave the
men in place. When the attack came March 11, some were rescued by
helicopter, but eleven men were missing. The President announced a halt in
the bombing of North Vietnam.

Donald Westbrook was flying one of 4 A1E's orbiting on stand-by to search
for survivors of the attack at Phou Pha Thi when his plane was shot down
March 13. Westbrook was never found. Finding no survivors, the Air Force
destroyed Lima 85 to prevent the equipment from falling into the hands of
the enemy.

In mid-March, Doris Jean Gish was notified that Lima 85 had been overrun by
enemy forces, and that her husband and the others who had not escaped had
been killed. Many years later, she learned that was not the whole truth.

Two separate reports indicate that all the men missing at Phou Pha Thi did
not die. One report suggests that at least one of the 11 was captured, and
another indicates that 6 were captured. Information has been hard to get.
The fact that Lima Site 85 existed was only declassified in 1983, and
finally the wives could be believed when they said their husbands were
missing in Laos. Some of the men's files were shown to their families for
the first time in 1985.

Doris Jean Gish and the other wives have talked and compared notes. They
still feel there is a lot of information to be had. They think someone
survived the attack on Lima Site 85 that day in March 1968. They wonder if
their country will bring those men home.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

01/2020

https://dpaa.secure.force.com/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt0000000KYVsEAO

SSGT HENRY GERALD GISH

Return to Service Member Profiles

On March 11, 1968, North Vietnamese soldiers conducted a sapper attack against a U.S. Air Force Tactical Air Navigation system, designated Lima Site 85 in Houaphan Province, Laos, also referred to as Phou Pha Thi. The enemy attacked very early in the morning, using grenades and mortars, and eventually killing eleven U.S. Air Force personnel. Nine Americans were later rescued from the site, one who was wounded and then later died of his injuries before he reached the evacuation base.

Staff Sergeant Henry Gerald Gish, who joined the U.S. Air Force from Pennsylvania, served with Detachment 1, 1043rd Radar Evaluation Squadron. He was killed during the attack on Lima Site 85 on March 11, 1968, and his remains were not recovered. Today, Staff Sergeant Gish is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Based on all information available, DPAA assessed the individual's case to be in the analytical category of Active Pursuit.

If you are a family member of this serviceman, DPAA can provide you with additional information and analysis of your case. Please contact your casualty office representative.

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https://www.dpaa.mil/News-Stories/ID-Announcements/Article/4260984/airman-accounted-for-from-vietnam-war-gish-h/
07/31/2025
 
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced today that U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Henry G. Gish, 25, of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, ...

                                        ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Press Release | July 31, 2025

Airman Accounted For From Vietnam War (Gish, H.)

 

WASHINGTON  –  

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced today that U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Henry G. Gish, 25, of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, who was killed during the Vietnam War, was accounted for June 23, 2025.

Gish’s family recently received their full briefing on his identification, therefore, additional details on his identification can be shared.

In 1968, Gish and 18 other men were assigned to Lima Site 85, a tactical air navigation radar site on a remote, 5,600-foot mountain peak known as Phou Pha Thi in Houaphan Province, Laos. In the early morning of March 11, the site was overrun by Vietnamese commandos, causing the Americans to seek safety on a narrow ledge of the steep mountain. A few hours later, under the protective cover of A-1 Skyraider aircraft, U.S. helicopters were able to rescue eight of the men. Gish and 10 other Americans were killed in action and unable to be recovered.

In 1994, a joint U.S. - Lao People’s Democratic Republic recovery operation, led by DPAA’s predecessor Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, took place near the top of Phou Pha Thi with negative results. A second recovery operation, in 2003, resulted in the discovery of remains which were subsequently identified as one of the missing U.S. servicemen, Tech Sgt. Patrick L. Shannon. Since that time, JPAC evaluated the feasibility of conducting recoveries on Phou Pha Thi, but logistics and safety concerns precluded further attempts. 

From 1994 to 2009, in cooperation with the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and Laos, teams pursued multiple leads from dozens of witnesses interviewed, including those involved with the attack. In 2003, a joint team recovered remains during site investigation work along the western slopes of Phou Pha Thi. The remains were scientifically identified as one of the 11 missing Airmen from this incident. In 2005, a Laotian citizen provided U.S. officials an identification card belonging to another missing servicemember, and human remains purportedly found at the base of Phou Pha Thi.

In 2020, DPAA partner the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) began an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) survey and analysis of the site with the goal of providing recovery recommendations to the DPAA. After the survey was cut short by the 2020 global pandemic, the team returned to the site in the fall of 2022 completing the UAV survey and delivering their recommendations which included the identification of specific areas of interest for recovery on the cliffside loss site.

In 2023, acting on the 2022 UIC recommendations, DPAA personnel and members from partner organizations, conducting work in preparation for a recovery mission, discovered unexploded ordnance, incident-related materials, possible material evidence, and possible osseus remains from the loss location surveyed by UIC. The osseus material was later identified as Sgt. David Price, one of the men missing from Lima Site 85.

Joint recovery teams surveyed and excavated the site from Jan. 16 – Feb. 16, 2025, and March 2-31, 2025, as parts of Joint Field Activities 25-2LA and 25-3LA. During both missions, the teams recovered possible human remains, possible material evidence, and other osseus material. All remains and evidence were subsequently accessioned into the DPAA Laboratory for scientific analysis.        

To identify Gish’s remains, scientists from DPAA used anthropological analysis. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial, Y-chromosome, and autosomal DNA analysis.

Today, Gish is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, and on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C., (Panel 44E, Line 16). A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.

Gish will be buried in Berea, Kentucky on a date yet to be determined.

For family and funeral information, contact the Air Force Casualty Office at (800) 531-5501.

DPAA is grateful to the ABMC, the United States Air Force, the Vietnamese and Laotian Governments, and the University of Illinois for their partnerships in this mission.

For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for Americans who went missing while serving their country, visit the DPAA website at www.dpaa.mil or on social media at www.facebook.com/dodpaa, https://www.linkedin.com/company/dodpaa, https://www.instagram.com/dodpaa/, or https://x.com/dodpaa.

Gish’s personnel profile can be viewed at https://dpaa-mil.sites.crmforce.mil/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt0000000KYVsEAO.

 

 

 

 

 

 
Henry Gish was a Vietnam veteran who died at the age of 25. According to The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, in 1968, Gish and 18 other men were ...