Wed, Nov 02, 2011
Thomas Clark Was Shot Down Attacking An Anti-Aircraft
Position
The remains of a U.S. serviceman, missing in action from the
Vietnam War, have been identified and returned to his family for
burial with full military honors. Air Force Capt. Thomas E. Clark,
29, of Emporium, PA, was buried October 22 in his hometown.
File Photo
On Feb. 8, 1969, Clark was attacking an anti-aircraft artillery
position in Savannakhet Province, Laos, when his F-100D Super Sabre
aircraft was struck by enemy fire and crashed. Three other American
pilots on the mission did not see a parachute or any other signs of
Clark. Immediate search and rescue missions were not able to locate
the crash site.
In 1991, and again in 1992, joint U.S./Lao People’s
Democratic Republic (L.P.D.R.) teams investigated the area of the
crash and recovered aircraft wreckage and military equipment. The
teams also conducted interviews with locals who reported witnessing
the crash. Local Laotians gave the investigators two military
identification tags that identified Clark, and human remains, which
had been recovered from the site shortly after the crash. In 2009,
an additional excavation of the site recovered dental remains which
also helped to identify Clark.
Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial
evidence, scientists from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command were
able to use dental analysis to help identify Clark.
More than 1,600 American remain un-accounted for from the
Vietnam War. More than 900 servicemen have been accounted for from
that conflict, and returned to their families for burial with
military honors since 1973. The U.S. government continues to work
closely with the governments of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia to
recover all Americans lost in the Vietnam War.
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