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Name: Patrick Robert Curran
Name: John Terence McDonnell
Name: John Wadsworth Consolvo, Jr.
Name: Gregory John Harris
"Patrick Robert Curran, USMC"
Rank/Branch: O2/US Marine Corps
Unit: VMA 242, 1st Marine Air Wing
Date of Birth: 05 November 1943
Home City of Record: Bensenville IL
Date of Loss: 29 September 1969
Country of Loss: Laos
Loss Coordinates: 161500N 1065700E (XD678036)
Status (in 1973): Missing In Action
Category: 4
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: A6A
Other Personnel In Incident: Luther A. Lono (missing)
Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 15 March 1990 with the assistance of
one or more of the following:
raw data from U.S. Government agency sources,
correspondence with POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews.
On 29 September, 1969, Maj. Luther A. Lono, pilot; and 1Lt.
Patrick R. Curran, bombardier navigator were dispatched aboard an A6A to conduct an armed
reconnaissance mission in support of Seventh U.S. Air Force operations over
Laos. The mission was under the control of an Air Force Airborne Tactical Air
Control aircraft, and was to be conducted in a heavily defended enemy area.
The mission proceeded without incident until 8:50 p.m., at which time the
Airborne Tactical Air Control aircraft lost contact with the Lono/Curran
aircraft. Their last radio contact had been about 25 miles west of Khe Sanh.
Attempts to contact the aircraft were unsuccessful, and at 10:30 p.m., the
commanding officer of the 11th Aircraft Group 11 declared them "overdue."
At this declaration, electronic search efforts began for the crew members,
and a signal was received by the Tactical Air Control aircraft at 0248 hours on
September 30 which was believed to be a signal from an emergency transmitter.
Subsequent attempts to contact the crew were unsuccessful. A visual search
began at dawn on September 30, but no sign of the crew or aircraft was found.
According to Curran's mother, Curran and Lono's aircraft quietly landed in
heavily-guarded enemy territory that night, and was taken intact. Curran and
Lono were either captured at that time, or executed. They were alive. Mrs.
Curran believes her son is still alive, and has worked tirelessly to free him
and others she believes also to be alive. Both Curran and Lono were declared
Missing in Action.
Nearly 600 Americans were lost in Laos, but because the U.S. did not recognize
the communist government there, we did not negotiate for the "tens of tens" of
American prisoners the Pathet Lao stated that they held. As a result, not one
American prisoner held in Laos ever returned.
Since the end of the war, nearly 10,000 reports of Americans missing in
Southeast Asia have been received by the U.S. Government, convincing many
authorities that hundreds are still languishing in communist prisons.
Luther Lono and Patrick Curran understood that undertaking the missions they
flew might mean they could be killed, wounded or captured. It probably never
crossed their minds that the country they proudly served would abandon them.
"John Terence McDonnell, US Army"
Rank/Branch: O3/US Army
Unit: A Battery, 4th Battalion, 77th Artillery, 101st Airborne Division
Date of Birth: 14 December 1940
Home City of Record: Ft. Worth TX
Date of Loss: 06 March 1969
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 161346N 1075822E (ZC177968)
Status (in 1973): Missing in Action
Category: 2
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: AH1G
Other Personnel in Incident: (none missing)
REMARKS:
Capt. John T. McDonnell was the aircraft commander of an AH1G
helicopter from A Battery, 4th Battalion, 77th Artillery, 101st Airborne
Division operating in Thua Tien Province, South Vietnam. On March 6,
McDonnell's aircraft was the flight leader in a flight on two aircraft on a combat mission.
During a firing pass, McDonnell's aircraft was observed receiving enemy ground
fire. The aircraft disappeared into an overcast and crashed into a mountain
side. The area was searched, but McDonnell could not be located. His pilot, Lt.
Ronald Greenfield, was found and medically evacuated. Lt. Greenfield could
recall nothing from the point of impact to the following morning.
During the search, McDonnell's helmet was found with no trace of blood along
with pieces of equipment. It appeared that McDonnell's seatbelt had been
unlocked and that he had left the aircraft on his own power. During the search
effort, numerous deserted enemy positions were located indicating that Capt.
McDonnell might have been captured. The search continued for three weeks
without success.
McDonnell was not a green soldier. On a previous tour of Vietnam then-2LT.
McDonnell was attached as an artillery expert to Detachment A324, 5th Special
Forces Group. It was at this time, on May 25, 1965, that he was awarded the
Army Commendation Medal with "V" device for Heroism. At that time McDonnell was an
advisor to South Vietnamese paramilitary forces at Thanh Dien Forest, Republic
of Vietnam. A fellow team member had been killed by a sniper, another had been
wounded. A third was missing. McDonnell's tactical advice and bravery enabled
the team to successfully complete their search for the missing team member in
the face of intense enemy fire.
There is every reason to suspect that McDonnell may have been captured. His
fate following is a matter for speculation. Returned POWs would say that those who
resisted most strongly were the most tortured and deprived. To a man, those 591
Americans who returned home at the end of the war cooperated at some point, in
some way, with their captors. They all agree it is not a matter of whether a
man can be broken -- but only how long it will take.
Only a few were known to hold out to the end...and unfortunately, for them, it
was the end. A few were known to have been literally tortured or starved to
death for their resolute refusal to cooperate. McDonnell's training and
background may put him in that category. We may never know for sure.
Nearly 2500 Americans were lost in Southeast Asia during our military
involvement there. Since the war in Southeast Asia ended in 1973, thousands of reports of
Americans still in captivity have been received by the U.S. Government. The
official policy is that no conclusive proof has been obtained that is current
enough to act upon. Detractors of this policy say conclusive proof is in hand,
but that the willingness or ability to rescue these prisoners does not exist.
McDonnell, if one of those hundreds said to be still alive and in captivity,
must be wondering, "Where ARE you, America?" Where are we, America, when the
life of even one American is not worth the effort of recovery? When the next
war comes, and it is our sons lost, will we then care enough to do everything we
can to bring our prisoners home?
"Capt. John Wadsworth Consolvo, USMC"
Rank/Branch: O3/US Marine Corps
Unit: Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 212, 1st Brigade, MAG 24
Date of Birth: 08 January 1944
Home City of Record: Ft. Belvoir VA
Date of Loss: 07 May 1972
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 164800N 1065700E (YD010555)
Status (in 1973): Missing In Action
Category: 2
Acft/Vehicle/Ground: F4J
Other Personnel In Incident: (backseater rescued)
Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project (919/527-8079) 01 April 1991 from
one or more of the following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources,
correspondence with POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews. Copyright
1991 Homecoming II Project.
REMARKS:
Capt. John W. Consolvo was on a combat mission out of Da Nang, South
Vietnam when his aircraft was hit by ground fire as he pulled off target. He
flew the aircraft about 18 miles to a safer bail-out area before the craft
became uncontrollable. Although Consolvo's mission was in South Vietnam near
the DMZ, the ground fire that struck his aircraft came from Laos.
Consolvo radioed that the aircraft was incapacitated and ordered his radar
intercept officer to eject. The officer successfully reached the ground, was
rescued and returned to Da Nang.
The F4 crashed 3-4 miles from the location the RIO landed, in enemy territory
(probably just inside Laos). Although the RIO did not see his pilot eject, he
believed he could have easily ejected and probably did. The wingman and
forward air controller on the mission did not see him eject, but they had been
unable to keep the plane constantly in sight.
John Consolvo flew over 150 combat missions on his first tour of Vietnam. He
was into his second tour when he was shot down on May 7, 1972. He had been in the
Marine Corps since 1966. John W. Consolvo, Jr. graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1966.
If John Consolvo was unfortunate enough to be apprehended by the Pathet
Lao, he is among nearly 600 Americans who disappeared without trace. The Pathet Lao
stated on several occasions that they held "tens of tens" of American
prisoners, yet not one man held in Laos was ever released - or negotiated for.
Circumstances surrounding his crash indicate that the Vietnamese or Lao could
account for his fate - alive or dead. John Consolvo does not deserve the
abandonment he has received by the country he proudly served.
"Gregory John Harris, USMC"
Rank/Branch: E4/US Marine Corps
Unit: H/3/11 1st Marine Division
Date of Birth: 01 October 1945
Home City of Record: Toledo OH (or Syracuse NY)
Date of Loss: 12 June 1966
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 145800N 1084900E (BS670578)
Status (in 1973): Missing In Action
Category: 2
Acft/Vehicle/Ground: Ground
Other Personnel In Incident: (none missing)
Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 01 July 1990 from one or more of the
following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with
POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews.
REMARKS:
Gregory J. Harris was a radioman with a South Vietnamese company
operating in Quang Ngai Province, South Vietnam. On June 12, 1966, the 5th
Vietnamese Marine Battalion Headquarters was overrun by Viet Cong forces, and
according to the U.S. Marine Corps, Harris was captured.
Two officers with Harris were killed, but the South Vietnamese saw Harris
captured alive and apparently unhurt. According to Marine Corps records,
Harris died in captivity.
The Defense Department has never classified Gregory Harris as a prisoner of
war eventhough the Marine Corps believes he was captured and died in captivity. He
was placed in a casualty status of Missing in Action.
In the summer of 1973, after Harris did not return with the released prisoners
of war, his mother, Catherine Helwig, did something quite remarkable to tell
the world that all the men did not return. She walked 450 miles in one month from
Buffalo, New York to New York City. When asked why she did this, she
responded, "If your child was lost in the forest you would not stop the search at the end
of twenty-four hours. I can't look for my boy...it's better than staying awake
night after night."
At the same time Mrs. Helwig was walking, then-President Nixon was declaring
the task of accounting for the remaining missing, "Highest priority". President
after President termed the accounting "highest national priority". Not too
much has changed. The men are still in Southeast Asia. Their sons, daughters and
grandchildren are marching and protesting because mounting evidence indicates
that many of them are still alive.
It's time America insisted that "highest priority" meant just that...and that
the U.S. Government get very serious about bringing Americans home from
Southeast Asian prisons.
Gregory J. Harris was promoted to the rank of Master Sergeant during the
period he was a prisoner of war. Marine Corps records list his home city as Syracuse,
New York.
Many thanks to George M. "Gunny"
Fallon who has been making a difference thru his tireless effort in this cause.
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