Tag: Alabama

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Crear, Willis Calvin
Army Specialist 4

Willis Calvin Crear from Birmingham, Alabama, Jefferson county.

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: Monday, February 15, 1971

Death details: On November 12, 2000, Joint Task Force-Full Accounting (JTF-FA, now DPAA) identified the remains of Specialist 4 Willis Calvin Crear, missing from the Vietnam War.

Specialist 4 Crear entered the U.S. Army from Alabama and served with the 159th Aviation Battalion, 101st Airborne Division. On February 15, 1971, he was the door gunner aboard a CH-47C Chinook (tail number 18506, call sign “Regard 25”) on a combat support/resupply mission over Laos. During the flight, “Regard 25” caught fire, exploded in mid-air, and crashed near the Pon River in Savannakhet Province, Laos. Specialist 4 Crear was killed in the crash and his remains could not be recovered at the time. After the war, a series of joint U.S.-Laotian investigative teams located the crash site and recovered human remains, some of which were forensically identified as those of SP4 Crear.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency

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Bannon, Paul Wedlake
Air Force Colonel

Paul Wedlake Bannon, age 34, from Hueytown, Alabama, Jefferson county.

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: Saturday, July 12, 1969

Death details: On July 12, 1969, an F-4D Phantom II (tail number 66-7697) with two crew members took off from Ubon Air Base, Thailand, for a visual reconnaissance mission over Laos. The aircraft completed its mission over the primary target area then contacted controllers at Nakhon Phanom Air Base, Thailand, and stated that they were proceeding to another location. However, the controller abruptly lost radio and radar contact with the aircraft during this exchange. At this time, the aircraft was in the vicinity of (GC) WE 229 974. When the aircraft failed to rendezvous for refueling, a communications search and a check of other air bases was initiated without success. Further search efforts were inhibited by bad weather.

Major Paul Wedlake Bannon, who entered the U.S. Air Force from Alabama, served with the 8th Tactical Fighter Wing and was the aircraft commander aboard this Phantom at the time of its disappearance. He remains unaccounted for. Subsequent to the incident, and while carried in the status of missing in action (MIA), the U.S. Air Force promoted Major Bannon to the rank of Colonel (Col). Today, Colonel Bannon is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency

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Laney, Billy Ray
Army Master sergeant

Billy Ray Laney, age 27, from Birmingham, Alabama, Jefferson county.

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: Saturday, June 3, 1967
Death details: On June 12, 2000, the Central Identification Laboratory-Hawaii (CILHI) identified the remains of Sergeant Major Billy Ray Laney, missing from the Vietnam War. Sergeant Major Laney entered the U.S. Army from Alabama and was a member of the Command and Control Detachment, 5th Special Forces Group. On June 3, 1967, he was a passenger aboard a CH-46A Sea Knight (bureau number 150955, call sign “YWZ”) carrying six crew members and an unknown number of South Vietnamese special forces members on an extraction mission in Salavan (formerly Saravane) Province, Laos. While taking off from the landing zone, the aircraft was hit by enemy small arms fire and crashed, killing SGM Laney. His remains could not be recovered at the time. However, between 1993 and 1996, a joint U.S. task force traveled to Salavan Province and recovered artifacts and human remains from the site; the combined remains were sent to CILHI for analysis. Investigators were able to forensically identify SGM Laney among the remains.
Cemetery: New Home Missionary Baptist Church in Moreland, Alabama

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, findagrave.com