PAXTON, DONALD ELMER
Remains Identified 09/08/00
| Name: Donald Elmer Paxton Rank/Branch: O5/US Air Force Unit: Date of Birth: 03 November 1928 Home City of Record: Cedar Rapids IA Date of Loss: 22 February 1969 Country of Loss: Laos Loss Coordinates: 163200N 1061600E (XD351297) Status (in 1973): Missing In Action Category: 2 Acft/Vehicle/Ground: B57B Refno: 1392 Other Personnel In Incident: Charles Macko (missing) |
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Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 01 April 1991 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: In mid-February, 1969, U.S. Defense policy for response on U.S.
operations in Laos was, "The preferable response to questions about air
operations in Laos is 'no comment'." We "weren't" in Laos.
The B57 Canberra was one of the aircraft used by the U.S. Air Force to bomb
the Ho Chi Minh Trail. The Canberra first came to the Vietnam theater at the
time of the Gulf of Tonkin incident in 1964. It proved too vulnerable and
difficult to repair for working targets over North Vietnam, but proved
effective in the armed reconnaissance Trail operations of Operation Steel
Tiger. The Canberra was sometimes used in conjunction with other, more
sophisticated aircraft, such as the C130, and was especially effective on
night missions.
LtCol. Donald E. Paxton and Maj. Charles Macko were in Laos. Paxton was the
pilot and Macko the co-pilot of a B57 bomber sent on a mission over
Savannakhet Province, Laos, on February 22, 1969. During the mission, the
aircraft was shot down and both men were declared Missing In Action.
Macko and Paxton are two of nearly 600 Americans who disappeared in Laos
during the Vietnam War. Although Pathet Lao leaders stressed that they held
"tens of tens" of American prisoners, they stated that those captured in
Laos would be released in Laos, hoping to gain a seat at the negotiating
table in Paris where the U.S. and Vietnam were negotiating an end to the
war.
The U.S. did not include Laos in the Paris Peace Accords, and no Americans
held in Laos were released. In America's haste to leave Southeast Asia, it
abandoned its finest men. Since the end of the war, the U.S. has received
thousands of reports convincing many that hundreds of Americans are still
held captive today.
In seeming disreguard for the Americans either held or having been murdered
by the Pathet Lao, by 1989, the U.S. and the Lao devised a working plan to
provide Laos with humanitarian and economic aid leading toward ultimate full
diplomatic and trade relations while Laos allows the excavation of military
crash sites at sporadic intervals. In America's haste to return to Southeast
Asia, we are again abandoning our men.
Charles Macko and Donald E. Paxton were both promoted to the rank of Colonel
during the period they were maintained missing.
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National League of Families
UPDATE LINE: September 8, 2000
Thank you for calling the National League of Families Update Line. This
message is being recorded on Friday, September 8th. The number of Americans
missing and unaccounted for from the Vietnam War is now 2,005.
Today, the Department of Defense released the names of eight of nine US
personnel now accounted for, six previously missing in Laos and three in
Vietnam. These Americans include CDR Leonard M. Lee of VA and LCDR Roger B.
Innes of IL, both US Navy, missing in North Vietnam since December 27, 1967.
The Defense Department did not publicly release CDR Lee's name at the
request of his next-of-kin; however, members of Commander Lee's family were
quoted in the Richmond Times-Dispatch September 4th edition regarding his
identification. Others include Lt Col Donald E. Paxton of IA and Maj
Charles Macko of NY, both US Air Force, missing in Laos since February 2,
1969; Capt Stephen P. Hanson of CA, 1st Lt Jon G. Gardner of NC and Sgt
Timothy R. Bodden of IL, USMC, and Army GySgt Billy R. Laney of FL, all
missing in Laos since June 3, 1967; and Army CWO1 William A. Smith, Jr., of
MI, missing in South Vietnam since September 2, 1968.
The accounting for these nine Americans brings the number still missing and
unaccounted for from the Vietnam War to 2,005, 1511 in Vietnam, 421 in Laos,
65 in Cambodia and 8 in the territorial waters of the PRC. Nearly 85% of
all Americans lost in Laos and Cambodia were in areas then under wartime
Vietnamese control; therefore, it is to Vietnam that we look for archival
records and witnesses to assist in accounting for them....
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How DNA and a lot of hope is helping
Defense Department find New York war heroes
Raymond Smith submitted a DNA sample
and on June 2, 2016, according to Defense POW/MIA
Accounting Agency records, a lower jaw bone and ...
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02/2020
https://dpaa.secure.force.com/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt000000sPM1uEAG
On August 15, 2000, Joint Task Force–Full Accounting (JTF-FA,
now DPAA) identified the remains of Colonel Donald Elmer Paxton,
missing from the Vietnam War.
Colonel Paxton entered the U.S. Air Force from Iowa and served
with the 8th Tactical Bombardment Squadron. On February 22,
1969, he piloted a B-57B Canberra (tail number 52-1532, "Yellow
Bird 40") on a night combat mission against enemy targets in
Laos. During the mission, his aircraft was shot down by enemy
ground fire and crashed in Khammouan Province, killing Col
Paxton. A search was prevented by the rugged terrain and the
active enemy presence in the loss area, and his remains were not
recovered at the time. In 1996, a joint U.S./Laotian
investigative team traveled to the crash site in Khammouan
Province, where they recovered human remains and personal
effects, and in 2000, U.S. investigators were able to identify
Col Paxton from these remains.
Colonel Paxton 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.