WADSWORTH, DEAN AMICK
REMAINs IDENTIFIED 04/16/99
Name: Dean Amick Wadsworth
Branch/Rank: United States Air Force/O3
Unit:
Date of Birth: 30 November 1930
Home City of Record: CLARENDON TX
Date of Loss: 08 October 1963
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 0 0
Status (in 1973): Killed In Action/Body Not Recovered
Category: 2
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: T28
Missions:
Other Personnel in Incident: South Vietnamese crewman
Refno:
Source: Compiled by P.O.W. NETWORK from one or more of the following: raw
data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA
families, published sources, interviews and CACCF = Combined Action
Combat Casualty File.
REMARKS: ACFT BROKE UP CRASH EXPLODED
CACCF/CRASH/PILOT/12 YRS UNITED STATES AIR FORCE/QUANG NAM
No further information available at this time.
No. 057-M
MEMORANDUM FOR CORRESPONDENTS April 16, 1999
The remains of six American servicemen previously unaccounted-for from the
war in Southeast Asia have been identified and are being returned to their
families for burial in the United States.
They are identified as Air Force Capt. Dean A. Wadsworth, Clarendon,
Texas; Marine SSgt. Harold E. Reid, Salt Lake City, Utah; Navy Lt.
David L. Hodges, Chevy Chase, Md.; Air Force Lt. Col. Lewis M.
Robinson, Saginaw, Mich.; Air Force Capt. Douglas K. Martin, Tyler,
Texas; and Air Force Capt. Samuel L. James, Chattanooga, Tenn.
On Oct. 8, 1963, Wadsworth and his South Vietnamese crewman were flying
their T-28B Trojan on a combat support mission approximately 50 miles
southwest of Da Nang, South Vietnam. As he completed his bombing run over
the target, his aircraft broke apart in mid air, crashed and exploded, as
reported by another pilot on the mission. A massive search and rescue
operation was initiated that day by two Marine helicopters but they
disappeared during the mission. At dawn on the following day, Marine
helicopters airlifted two companies of South Vietnamese infantrymen to the
area of the downed aircraft. As the helicopters landed, enemy troops fired
on them, wounding three Marine crewmen and killing a Vietnamese soldier.
Two T-28s, B-26s and a South Vietnamese A-1 aircraft responded by strafing
enemy positions. An American L-19 light observation aircraft directing the
strike was hit, the Vietnamese observer was wounded, and the aircraft made a
forced landing. Meanwhile, the Vietnamese ground troops found both Marine
helicopters that had disappeared on the first day. Ten bodies were
recovered, but two remain missing in action to this day. In the days during
the search and rescue operations, 207 missions were flow n, three aircraft
were lost and four others damaged. Fifteen South Vietnamese soldiers were
killed and seven were wounded.
In late 1993, a Vietnamese local turned over remains he said were recovered
near the crash site. In May of the following year, a joint U.S./Vietnamese
team, led by the Joint Task Force-Full Accounting, visited the area of the
crash, interviewed villagers and obtained some aircraft debris and
pilot-related equipment. In September, another joint team examined the
crash site and found more debris, but no remains. Then in May 1995, another
team excavated the site where they found remains, as well as two
identification tags of Wadsworth.
On Sept. 13, 1967, Reid completed his tour guarding an observation post near
a river in Quang Nam Province, South Vietnam. Before dawn, he crossed the
bridge to visit a friend on the south side of the river. He was never seen
again. A joint U.S./Vietnamese team in August 1993 interviewed local
informants who claimed to have buried an American Marine who had been shot
by the Vietcong near the river. The informants stated that the body had
been moved and re-buried at another location, but the team could not locate
it. In September 1995, another team interviewed other informants, but
obtained little information.
Then in April 1996, a third team excavated the reported burial site about
1,000 meters from the southern end of the bridge where they found remains as
well as material evidence and personal equipment.
On Oct. 7, 1967, Hodges was leading a strike mission near Hanoi, North
Vietnam when his A-4E Skyhawk was struck by an enemy surface-to-air missile.
His wingman reported receiving a radio transmission from the lieutenant that
his engine had flamed out. As the wingman watched, Hodges' burning aircraft
rolled to the right, entered a steep dive, and crashed. No parachute was
sighted and no emergency beeper signals were heard. Because of enemy
control of the area, there was no search and rescue missi on mounted.
Acting on information obtained from Vietnamese wartime documents, a joint
U.S./Vietnamese team interviewed villagers in July 1995 who claimed to have
visited the site shortly after the crash and buried the pilot. But the
crash crater had been filled with dirt to allow farming, so the team found
no evidence of a crash. But the following April, another team mounted an
excavation at the site where they did recover remains, a wristwatch
fragment, pilot-related items and aircraft wreckage. Later, in S eptember
1996, a third team continued the excavation and found additional remains
among the wreckage.
Robinson was flying his A-1E Skyraider on a close air support mission over
Saravane Province, Laos, on June 4, 1967, when he was struck by enemy ground
fire. His aircraft pitched up abruptly, struck the wing of another
aircraft, went into an inverted spin and crashed amid an explosion. None of
the other pilots in the flight reported seeing a parachute nor hearing
emergency beeper signals. Hostile threats in the area prevented air or
ground searches of the crash site.
In early 1988, representatives of the Laotian government turned over remains
to the U. S. Joint Casualty Resolution Center, the unit leading joint
recovery operations in Southeast Asia at the time. A joint U.S./Lao team
traveled to the area of the crash site in November 1993, interviewed
villagers, surveyed the area and recovered skeletal fragments, aircraft
wreckage and pilot-related equipment. Then in January 1998, a second joint
team excavated the site and recovered more remains and personal eq uipment.
Martin and James were flying a forward air control mission over Cambodia on
April 18, 1973, when they descended below a 6,000-foot layer of haze in
their F-4E Phantom. They radioed they had the target in sight, but their
wingman was unable to maintain visual contact. He asked Martin and James to
give him an automatic direction-finder signal but there was no response. On
several passes over the target, the wingman noted fires and explosions near
the target area. There were no parachutes sighted, nor emergency beeper
signals. Enemy activity in the area prevented a ground search, but aerial
reconnaissance the following day noted aircraft debris at the site.
In 1993, 1995 and 1997, three joint U.S./Cambodian teams developed leads
through interviews with local villagers and surveys of the crash site. The
informants noted that the crash site had been heavily scavenged and that
remains had been present at one time. Then in January 1998, a joint team
excavated the site where they found remains amid numerous pieces of aircraft
wreckage. Anthropological analysis of the remains and other evidence by the
U.S. Army Central Identification Laboratory, Hawaii confirmed the
identification of all six of these servicemen. With the accounting of these
six, there are now 2,063 Americans unaccounted-for from the Vietnam War.
Since the release of American POWs in 1973, 520 MIAs from Southeast Asia
have been accounted-for and returned to their families for burial with full
military honors.
The U.S. government welcomes and appreciates the cooperation of the
governments of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, the Lao People's
Democratic Republic, and the Kingdom of Cambodia 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. -END-