REYNOLDS, DAVID RICHARD

Name: David Richard Reynolds
Rank/Branch: E3/US Army
Unit: Company B, 4th Battalion, 503rd Infantry, 173rd Airborne Brigade
Date of Birth: 28 February 1949
Home City of Record: Buffalo NY
Date of Loss: 21 November 1967
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 143500N 1073547E
Status (in 1973): Killed/Body Not Recovered
Category: 2
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: Ground
Refno: 0924
Other Personnel in Incident: (none missing)

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 2020.

REMARKS:

SYNOPSIS: On November 21, 1967, PFC David R. Reynolds and his unit were
involved in a hostile action in Kontum Province, South Vietnam, near the
point where Cambodia, Laos and South Vietnam meet. PFC Reynolds was hit by
hostile gunfire in the action, and the area was soon overrun by enemy
forces.

Public record maintained by the U.S. Army indicate that Reynolds was
definitely killed in this action, and that his remains were not recovered,
but that all details of the loss are classified FOUO (for official use
only). There is no indication as to the reason for classification.

Many of the records of Americans missing in Southeast Asia remain classified
- some totally, and some only in part. In recent years, Congressional effort
has yielded law that requires the intelligence community to provide
intelligence reports received that are correlated to an individual to that
individual's next of kin. Many family members do not feel that the law is
strictly adhered to, and, as a result, continue to seek information from all
sources available.

Since the war ended, the U.S. Government has conducted "over 250,000" and
reviewed "several million documents" relating to Americans missing in
Southeast Asia, but concludes that there is no actionable evidence that any
of those missing are alive. Many former government officials disagree with
this analysis.

If, as the U.S. seems to believe, all the missing are dead, why the secrecy
after so many years? If the men are alive, why are they not home?

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02/2020

https://dpaa.secure.force.com/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt0000000KZCWEA4

PFC DAVID RICHARD REYNOLDS

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Private First Class David Richard Reynolds, who joined the U.S. Army from New York, was a member of Company B, 4th Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade. On November 21, 1967, he served as radio operator for Company B during a combat mission in South Vietnam. During a fight against enemy forces on Hill 875, PFC Reynolds was killed by enemy small arms fire. His body was left on the battlefield in the vicinity of (GC) YB 797 137 when his unit was forced to withdraw to allow artillery and air strikes on the hill. On November 25, U.S. troops initiated a three-day search of Hill 875 and the surrounding area. They recovered several sets of remains; however, PFC Reynolds was not among them. He is still unaccounted for following the incident. Today, Private First Class Reynolds 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.

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