Dale Brandenburg
Sergeant
6994TH SEC SQDN, 7TH AF United States Air Force Capitol Heights, Maryland November 11, 1948 to February 05, 1973 DALE BRANDENBURG is on the Wall at Panel W1, Line 114 |
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I have worn SGT. Brandenburg's POW/MIA bracelet since 1986 although I did not know him. He has held a place in my heart and mind since that time, always with the hope to be able to return it to him. In my mind we should still be searching for him, along with others from "Baron 52" who have not been returned or positively identified. I will continue to honor him with the bracelet until that time. I pray for him his family and all the men, women, and families who have given all.
From the lucky son of a Vietnam Vet who came home, |
A Note from The Virtual WallOn February 5, 1973, about a week after the signing of the Paris Peace Agreement, an EC-47Q electronic warfare collection aircraft (tail number 43-48636) was shot down over Saravane Province, Laos, about 50 miles east of the city of Saravane. The aircraft belonged to and was crewed by the 361st Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron, but the collection crew "back-enders" were from the 6994th Security Squadron:
From the POWNetwork.org report: "Over five years later, Joe Matejov's mother, Mary Matejov, heard columnist Jack Anderson, on "Good Morning America", describe a Pathet Lao radio communique which described the capture of four "air pirates" on the same day as the EC-47Q carrying her son was shot down. No other plane was missing that day. Anderson's information indicated that reconnaissance personnel had 40 uninterrupted minutes in which to survey the crash site.Hobson, in "Vietnam Air Losses", puts a slightly different slant on matters. He writes that the wreckage was located on 07 Feb and three US Air Force rescuemen were lowered to the crash site on 09 Feb 73. The rescuemen sighted at least four bodies but were able to recover the partial remains of only one airman (Bernhardt). The rescuemen could not remain on the ground long enough to extract and hoist the remains of the others to the hovering helicopter overhead. Hobson states that a joint Lao-US team excavated the site in 1993, recovering human remains and eight parachute "D" rings, one for each of the eight parachutes taken aboard the C-47. Although individual remains could not be identified, it was clear that none of the eight crewmen had parachuted to safety and there was no physical evidence indicating that any had survived the crash and post-crash fires. While the family members of some crewmen refused to accept the DoD finding that all eight men had died in the crash, the comingled remains of these men given a group burial in December 1995. |
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