MIA Serviceman's Remains Open Another Mystery
Robert Burns
The Associated Press
The Olympian
___________
Washington (US):
Nearly four decades after 11 U.S. servicemen — two of them from Washington state — were killed by North Vietnamese commandos at a secret radar site in Laos, U.S. investigators have made the first identification of remains — with the help of two of the commandos.
The recovery and identification of the remains of Air Force Tech. Sgt. Patrick L. Shannon, of Owasso, Okla., also created a new mystery.
On the mountain ledge where his remains were found, U.S. investigators discovered boots, clothing fragments and other personal items that indicated that some of the other missing Americans had been on the same ledge. None has been seen or heard from since the attack.
Eight of the 19 Americans who were at the radar site when it was attacked in the early morning of March 11, 1968, were rescued several hours later by CIA helicopters.Among the 10 still missing are Air Force Tech. Sgt. Melvin A. Holland of Woodland and Air Force Staff Sgt. David S. Price of Centralia.With the help of the Vietnamese government, two of the commandos who attacked the radar site were located, interviewed and taken to Lima Site 85 with U.S. investigators in March 2003.
The two showed the investigators three places atop the mountain where they said that after overrunning and killing the Americans, they threw the bodies off the cliff.The investigators then threw mannequins off the cliff at each of those three locations and videotaped the path of the mannequins from a helicopter hovering nearby. That led them to the ledge, about 540 feet below the radar site, where they found human remains later identified as those of Shannon.
Dec 10, 2005
Robert BurnsThe Associated Press
The Olympian
___________
Washington (US):
Nearly four decades after 11 U.S. servicemen — two of them from Washington state — were killed by North Vietnamese commandos at a secret radar site in Laos, U.S. investigators have made the first identification of remains — with the help of two of the commandos.
The recovery and identification of the remains of Air Force Tech. Sgt. Patrick L. Shannon, of Owasso, Okla., also created a new mystery.
On the mountain ledge where his remains were found, U.S. investigators discovered boots, clothing fragments and other personal items that indicated that some of the other missing Americans had been on the same ledge. None has been seen or heard from since the attack.
Eight of the 19 Americans who were at the radar site when it was attacked in the early morning of March 11, 1968, were rescued several hours later by CIA helicopters.Among the 10 still missing are Air Force Tech. Sgt. Melvin A. Holland of Woodland and Air Force Staff Sgt. David S. Price of Centralia.With the help of the Vietnamese government, two of the commandos who attacked the radar site were located, interviewed and taken to Lima Site 85 with U.S. investigators in March 2003.
The two showed the investigators three places atop the mountain where they said that after overrunning and killing the Americans, they threw the bodies off the cliff.The investigators then threw mannequins off the cliff at each of those three locations and videotaped the path of the mannequins from a helicopter hovering nearby. That led them to the ledge, about 540 feet below the radar site, where they found human remains later identified as those of Shannon.
Dec 10, 2005
