Gates, James Wayne
Army Lieutenant colonel

James Wayne Gates, age 32, from Morehouse County Mer Rouge, Louisiana .

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: Wednesday, April 6, 1966
Death details: On April 6, 1966, an OV-1A Mohawk (tail number 63-1377, call sign “Spud 06”) with two crew members departed Phu Bai Airfield as second in a two-plane reconnaissance mission over Laos. While on the mission, enemy ground fire hit both of the aircraft, forcing the crews to bail out over Laos. Radio contact was established with both crews, and two forward air controllers (FACs) sent search and rescue helicopters to the loss area. Before rescue teams reached the survivors, the crew of the number two Mohawk radioed they were surrounded by hostile forces and then radio contact was lost. However, the SAR aircraft rescued the crew of the lead aircraft. The crew members from the number two Mohawk were not recovered. Captain James Wayne Gates, who joined the U.S. Army from Louisiana, was a member of the 20th Aviation Detachment, 17th Aviation Group. He was the pilot of this Mohawk when it went down on its mission to Laos on April 6, 1966. He was not seen or heard from again following the Forward Air Controller’s (FAC) loss of radio contact with the downed crew, and he remains unaccounted-for. While carried in the status of missing in action, the U.S. Army promoted CPT Gates to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel (LTC). Today, Lieutenant Colonel Gates is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. His name is also inscribed along with all his fallen comrades on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, DC.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency