13 MIAs Killed in Laos in 1972 Are Identified

The remains of 13 U.S. servicemen killed in Laos--the first to have been discovered in that nation in nearly a decade--have been identified and are being returned to the United States, White House spokesman Larry Speakes announced Tuesday.

The bodies were recovered last February by a joint U.S.-Laotian search team from the wreckage of a 1972 plane crash. They are scheduled to be flown to Travis Air Force Base near Sacramento on Friday.

The recovery represents a “major effort by Laos,” Speakes declared. And one Administration official, speaking on condition that he not be identified, said continued cooperation by Laos in finding about 600 Americans still missing in action there could result in an effort to lift a ban on U.S. aid to the Southeast Asian nation.

Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos were barred from receiving U.S. economic aid after the end of American involvement in the region 10 years ago. In 1976, the Laotian government had released a few bodies of Americans missing in action, but it had since balked at cooperating until last winter.

“We’ve told them (the Laotian government) that we want to improve relations,” the Administration official said. “If we see further progress, we are prepared to ask Congress to lift the ban on aid.”

‘Committed’ to Searches

A Laotian diplomat in Washington said the State Department has informed the Laotian Embassy of the identification of the remains at Army laboratories in Honolulu. Moreover, “we are committed to go forward with the search for others,” said the diplomat, Chanthara Sayamoungkhoun, third secretary of the embassy.

A team of American and Laotian military and civilian officials searched the jungle site near Pakse in Sedone province where an AC-130 gunship crashed Dec. 21, 1972. At the time of the crash the United States maintained a military mission in Laos.

Two men had parachuted to safety after the plane was struck by anti-aircraft fire, and the body of another crewman who died in an attempt to bail out of the plane was found the next day.

The plane stayed airborne for 10 minutes after it was hit and crashed in a nearly inaccessible location. Because the remains were not recovered until 12 years later, the men who went down with the plane were classified as missing in action.

The bodies were identified by the Pentagon as those of Col. Paul O. Meder, Jamaica, N.Y.; Lt. Col. Thomas T. Hart III, Orlando, Fla.; Lt. Col. Harry R. Lagerwall, Carmel, N.Y.; Maj. Robert L. Liles Jr., Shreveport, La.; Maj. Francis A. Walsh, Westport, Conn.; Capt. Delma E. Dickens, Omega, Ga.; Capt. Stanley N. Kroboth, Savannah, Ga.; Capt. George D. MacDonald, Evanston, Ill.; Chief M.Sgt. James R. Fuller, Cibolo, Tex.; Senior M.Sgt. John G. Winningham, Grover City, Calif.; M.Sgt. Robert T. Elliott, El Dorado, Ark.; M.Sgt. Charles F. Fenter, Tucson, Ariz., and M.Sgt. Rollie K. Reaid, Dora, Ala.