Name: Stuart Merrill Andrews
Rank/Branch: Colonel USAF
Unit: 21st Tactical Air Support Squadron, Pleiku AB SV
Date of Birth: 22 September 1928
Home City of Record: Stamford CT
Date of Loss: 04 March 1966
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 133700N 1090000E (BR836079}
Status (in 1973): Missing In Action
Category: 3
Acft/Vehicle/Ground: O1E
Refno: 0262

JOHN FRANCIAS CONLON III

Name: John Francis Conlon III
Rank/Branch: O2/US Air Force
Unit: 21st Tactical Air Support Squadron, Pleiku AB SV
Date of Birth: 18 February 1941
Home City of Record: Wilkes Barre PA
Date of Loss: 04 March 1966
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 133700N 1090000E (BR836079)
Status (in 1973): Missing In Action
Category: 3
Acft/Vehicle/Ground: O1E
Refno: 0262
Other Personnel In Incident: Crew Listed above(missing)
Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 01 May 1990
from one or more of the following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources,
correspondence with POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews.
Updated by the P.O.W. NETWORK.
REMARKS:
SYNOPSIS: Major Stuart M. Andrews was the pilot of an O1E
aircraft on which his observer-in-training was 1Lt. John F. Conlon III
in March 1966. Andrews and his observer were sent on a cross-country
visual reconnaissance mission in South Vietnam.
The O1E "Bird Dog" was used extensively in the early years
of the war in Vietnam by forward air controllers and provided low,
close visual reconnaissance and target marking which enabled
armed aircraft or ground troops to close in on a target.
The O1E was feared by the enemy, because he knew that opening fire would expose his location
and invite attack by fighters controlled by the slowly circling Bird Dog.
The Vietnamese became bold, however when they felt their position
was compromised and attacked the little Bird Dog with a vengeance
in order to lessen the accuracy of an impending strike by other craft.
Andrews and Conlon departed Qui Nhon Airfield on March 4, 1966
at 3:20 p.m. At 3:40 p.m. they made radio contact with a
Special Forces Camp in the area and were asked to check campfires that had been spotted.
That radio contact with the Special Forces camp was the last word anyone
heard of Andrews and Conlon. There was at that time no indication
that anything was wrong, but when the plane failed to arrive
at its destination, both men were declared missing.
When 591 Americans were released from prisoner of war camps
in 1973, Andrews and Conlon were not among them.
Nearly five years later, in December 1977, they were presumptively declared dead,
based on no information that they were alive.
Alarmingly, evidence continues to mount that Americans
were left as prisoners in Southeast Asia and continue to be held today.
Unlike "MIAs" from other wars, most of the nearly 2500 Americans
who remain missing in Southeast Asia can be accounted for.
Many U.S. Government officials have said it is their belief that Americans
are being held, but have not yet found the formula that would bring them home.
Detractors claim that not enough is being done to bring these men home.
Stuart M. Andrews was promoted to the rank of Colonel
and John F. Conlon III was promoted to the rank of Major
during the period they were maintained missing.