THORNTON, LARRY C

Remains ID'd 2012

Name: Larry C Thornton
Rank/Branch: E7/US Air Force
Unit:
Date of Birth: 03 March 1932
Home City of Record: Idaho Falls ID
Date of Loss: 24 December 1965
Country of Loss: Laos
Loss Coordinates: 154800N 1064400E (XC856474)
Status (in 1973): Missing In Action
Category: 4
Acft/Vehicle/Ground: AC47D
Refno: 0222

Other Personnel In Incident: Arden K. Hassenger; W. Kevin Colwell; Dennis L.
Eilers; Joseph Christiano; Derrell B. Jeffords (all missing)

Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project with the assistance of one or more
of the following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources,
correspondence with POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews: 01
January 1990. Updated by the P.O.W. NETWORK 2020.


REMARKS: MAYDAY HEARD - SEARCH NEG - J

SYNOPSIS: On December 24, 1965, President Lyndon Johnson announced a
week-long bombing halt on North Vietnam. That same day, an AC47D "Spooky"
gunship was shot down during an armed reconnaissance flight just south of
the city of Ban Bac in Saravane Province, Laos. Planes in the area of the
loss of the plane heard mayday signals, but were unable to establish contact
with the crew.

The Spooky had evolved from the famed "Puff the Magic Dragon" versions of
the Douglas C47. Puff introduced a new principle to air attack in Vietnam.
Troubled by difficulties in conducting nighttime defense, Capt. Ronald Terry
of the U.S. Air Force Aeronautical Systems Division remembered reading about
flying missionaries in Latin America who lowered baskets of supplies on a
rope from a tightly circling airplane. Throughout the series of pylon turns,
the basket remained suspended over a selected point on the ground. Could
this principle be applied to fire from automatic weapons? Tests proved it
could, and could be extremely successful.

Puff's "flare kicker" illuminated the target, then the pilot used a mark on
the window to his left as a gun sight and circled slowly as three
multibarrel 7-62mm machine guns fired 18,000 rounds per minute from the door
and two windows in the port side of the passenger compartment. The aircraft
was called "Puff" after a popular song of the day, and because it resembled
a dragon overhead with flames billowing from its guns. Men on the ground
welcomed the presence of Puff and the later Spooky version, which was
essentially the same as the Puff, because of its ability to concentrate a
heavy dose of defensive fire in a surgically determined area. These aircraft
were extremely successful defending positions in South Vietnam, but proved
unable to survive against the anti-aircraft defenses in Laos.

The Spooky lost in Laos on December 24, 1965 was flown by Col. Derrel B.
Jeffords and Capt. Dennis L. Eilers. The crew aboard the aircraft was Maj.
Joseph Christiano, MSgt. Larry C. Thornton, TSgt. W. Kevin Colwell, and
SSgt. Arden K. Hassenger.

When 591 Americans were released from Vietnam in 1973, the Spooky crew was
not among them. As a matter of fact, no American held in Laos was (or has
been) released. The Lao were not included in negotiations ending American
involvement in the war in Southeast Asia.

In June 1989, Arden Hassenger's wife was informed that a report had been
received saying her husband had been sighted alive in Laos. This report is
one of nearly 10,000 relating to Americans missing in Southeast Asia
received by the U.S. Government since the war ended. Mrs. Hassenger was
unable to sleep to sleep at night wondering and worrying, yet Arden
Hassenger is still missing.

Henry Kissinger predicted in the 50's that future "limited political
engagements" would result, unfortunately, in nonrecoverable prisoners of
war. We have seen this prediction fulfilled in Korea and Vietnam, where
thousands of men and women remain missing, and where ample evidence exists
that many of them (from BOTH wars) are still alive today. The U.S.
Government seems unable (or unwilling) to negotiate their freedom. For
Americans, the "unfortunate" abandonment of military personnel is not
acceptable, and the policy that allows it must be changed before another
generation is left behind in some faraway war.

 
News from the Defense Prisoners of War/Missing in Action Office; http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo/accounted_for/
 
  • Col. Joseph Christiano, Col. Derrell B. Jeffords, Lt. Col. Dennis L. Eilers, Chief Master Sgt. William K. Colwell, Chief Master Sgt. Arden K. Hassenger, and Chief Master Sgt. Larry C. Thornton, U.S. Air Force, were lost on Dec. 24, 1965, when their AC-47D gunship crashed in Savannakhet Province, Laos. They were identified on March 5, 2012. They were accounted for on April 5, April 7, April 6, March 29, March 22, and April 10 respectively.


July 5, 2012

AIRMEN MISSING FROM VIETNAM WAR IDENTIFIED

            The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of six U.S. servicemen, missing in action from the Vietnam War, were recently identified and are being returned to their families for burial with full military honors. 

Air Force Col. Joseph Christiano, 43, of Rochester, N.Y.; Col. Derrell B. Jeffords, 40, of Florence, S.C.; Lt. Col. Dennis L. Eilers, 27, Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Chief Master Sgt. William K. Colwell, 44, Glen Cove, N.Y.; Chief Master Sgt. Arden K. Hassenger, 32, of Lebanon, Ore.; and Chief Master Sgt. Larry C. Thornton, 33, Idaho Falls, Idaho, will be buried as a group July 9, in a single casket representing the entire crew, in Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C.  On Dec. 24, 1965, the crew was aboard an AC-47D aircraft nicknamed “Spooky” that failed to return from a combat strike mission in southern Laos.  After a “mayday” signal was sent, all contact was lost with the crew.  Following the crash, two days of search efforts for the aircraft and crew were unsuccessful.  

In 1995, a joint U.S./Lao People’s Democratic Republic (L.P.D.R.) team investigated a crash in Savannakhet Province, Laos.  Local villagers recalled seeing a two-propeller aircraft, similar to an AC-47D, crash in December 1965.  A local man found aircraft wreckage in a nearby field while farming, and led the team to that location.  The team recovered small pieces of aircraft wreckage at that time and recommended further investigative visits. 

Joint U.S./L.P.D.R. investigation and recovery teams re-visited the site four times from 1999 to 2001.  They conducted additional interviews with locals, recovered military equipment, and began an excavation.  No human remains were recovered, so the excavation was suspended pending additional investigation.   

In 2010, joint U.S./L.P.D.R. recovery teams again excavated the crash site.  The team recovered human remains, personal items, and military equipment.  Three additional excavations in 2011 recovered additional human remains and evidence. 

Scientists from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command used dental records and circumstantial evidence in the identification of their remains.

            For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for missing Americans, visit the DPMO web site at http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo or call (703) 699-1420.

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Burial of pilot lost for 47 years brings closure locally
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
By Billy Cox The original bright red sheen from Tracy Vanderneck's MIA/POW bracelet is dull from
22 years of wear, and its stainless steel is worn so thin ...

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02/2020

https://dpaa.secure.force.com/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt000000oosFMEAY

CMSGT LARRY C THORNTON

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On April 10, 2012, the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC, now DPAA) identified the remains of Chief Master Sergeant Larry C. Thornton, missing from the Vietnam War.

Chief Master Sergeant Thornton entered the U.S. Air Force from Idaho and was a member of the 4th Air Commando Squadron. On December 24, 1965, he was a crew member aboard an AC-47D Spooky gunship carrying five other crew members on an armed reconnaissance mission against enemy targets in southern Laos. The aircraft crashed during the mission in Savannakhet Province and CMSgt Thornton was killed in the incident along with the other crew members. In 1995, a joint U.S./Laotian team investigated a reported location in Savannakhet Province that led the team to the Spooky’s crash site and recovery of aircraft wreckage. The team re-visited the site from 1999 to 2001, and again in 2010 and 2011, and recovered human remains, personal items, and military equipment. Modern forensic techniques were able to identify CMSgt Thornton among the remains recovered.

Chief Master Sergeant Thornton is memorialized in 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.