In Honored Remembrance of Lieutenant Stevens
Posted for: PHILIP PAUL STEVENS:
68_194_74_206_231587.gif
United States Department of Defense
Number 370-03
IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 27, 2003
MISSING NAVY CREWMEMBERS FOUND AND IDENTIFIED

The remains of nine U.S. Navy crewmembers, missing in action from the Vietnam War, have been identified and their remains are being returned to their families for burial.

The nine are identified as Commander Delbert A. Olson, Casselton, North Dakota; Lieutenants (jg) Denis L. Anderson, Hope, Kansas; Arthur C. Buck, Sandusky, Ohio; and Philip P. Stevens, Twin Lake, Michigan; Petty Officers Second Class
Richard M. Mancini, Amsterdam, New York; Michael L. Roberts, Purvis, Mississippi, Donald N. Thoresen and Kenneth H. Widon, Detroit, Michigan; and Petty Officer Third Class Gale R. Siow, Huntington Park, California.

A group burial will be held at Arlington National Cemetery on June 18, 2003.

The nine departed Nakhon Phanom Royal Thai Air Force Base on January 11, 1968 onboard a Navy OP-2E Neptune aircraft for a mission over Laos to drop sensors which detected enemy movements. During its last radio contact, the crew reported
they were descending through dense clouds. When they did not return to their home base, a search was initiated but found no evidence of a crash. Two weeks later, an Air Force aircrew photographed what appeared to be the crash site, but enemy
activity in the area prevented a recovery operation.

Between 1993 and 2002, six U.S.-Lao investigation teams led by the Joint Task Force Full Accounting interviewed villagers in the surrounding area, gathered aircraft debris and surveyed the purported crash site scattered on two ledges of Phou Louang Mountain in Khammouan Province. During a 1996 visit, team members also recovered identification cards for several crewmembers, as well as human remains.

Full-scale recovery missions by the U.S. Army Central Identification Laboratory Hawaii (CILHI) in both 2001 and 2002 yielded additional remains, as well as identification of other crewmembers. More than 1,900 Americans are missing in
action from the Vietnam War, with another 86,000 MIA from the Cold War, the Korean War and WWII.

http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/aircrew-01181968.htm
Posted by: Michael Robert Patterson
Email:
Relationship:
Tuesday, May 27, 2003
Edit this Remembrance   Remove this Remembrance      Share this on Facebook
Donate Now

Donate Now and Help Us Build The Education Center at The Wall. The stories of our military heroes' stories and sacrifice must never be forgotten

Be an Online Advocate
Spread the word to friends and family.
facebook icon twitter icon

Join Us!
Sign up to receive e-mail updates about
Memorial Fund activities.
Enter your e-mail address below:
Sign up to stay updated on the building of the Education Center and Memorial Fund activities. Enter your e-mail address below:


go
Search The Wall
go
Put a Face With a Name

Behind every name, a story. Our goal is to collect photos for all 58,272 veterans on The Wall. It was thousands of individuals who helped build the Memorial; now we are calling on you once again.

To learn how you can help, click here.

Today We Remember
On February 04,
  183 service members made the ultimate sacrifice.
On this day in 1966,
  18 service members made the ultimate sacrifice.
On this day in 1967,
  30 service members made the ultimate sacrifice.
On this day in 1968,
  68 service members made the ultimate sacrifice.
On this day in 1969,
  39 service members made the ultimate sacrifice.
On this day in 1970,
  16 service members made the ultimate sacrifice.
On this day in 1971,
  10 service members made the ultimate sacrifice.
On this day in 1972,
  2 service members made the ultimate sacrifice.
Click on the number of lives lost
to view the names.