6994th.com - Cap 72

On 05 Feb 1969 EC-47Q tail number 45-1133, call sign CAP72, departed Pleiku on a radio direction finding mission over Laos - and disappeared. Search and rescue efforts were begun when the aircraft failed to land at Hue-Phu Bai as scheduled and continued for six days without result. The ten crewmen aboard the aircraft were classified “Missing in Action” and the war continued.

In October 1969 the wreckage of a C-47 was found near Ban Phan, Laos; it proved to be 45-1133. Human remains were recovered from the site and repatriated for burial in a communal grave at Site 347, Section 81, Jefferson Barracks, St. Louis, MO. The ten crewmen were:

- 362nd Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron
- Lt. Col Harry T. Niggle, Bloomington, IN - Pilot
- Major Homer M. Lynn, Elmwood, IL - Co-Pilot
- Major Robert E. Olson, St Paul, MN - Navigator
- Capt Walter F. Burke, Flushing, NY - 3rd Pilot
- MSgt Wilton N. Hatton, Fort Worth, TX - Flight Engineer

- 6994th Security Squadron
- TSgt Louis J. Clever, Westmoreland City, PA - Radio Operator
- SSgt James V. Dorsey, Washington, DC - Radio Operator
- TSgt Hugh L. Sherburn, Vancouver, WA - Radio Operator
- SSgt Rodney H. Gott, Miami, FL - Radio Operator
- Sgt Clarence L. McNeill, Warsaw, NC - Radio Operator