 |
Web Hosting by Netfirms | Free Domain Names by Netfirms |
|
|
|
THEY ALL MUST COME HOME!
WE MUST NEVER
FORGET
;
Just where are these brave men? Harry would be 62 and John would be 54. They both had their whole lives ahead of them and they gave it all up because their country called. Can we in all good conscious just abandon them? Never to know what REALLY happened to them? Is it fair to let them stay a MIA forever? I say NO to all the above. We MUST bring these men home. We MUST find out what happened to them. Are the still alive, and if they are what must they think of their country, a country that they laid down their lives for, a country who has just left them to die in a forgien land? Our government has chosen to forgive and forget, WE MUST NOT! We MUST not rest until every last one of the 2,413 missing Americans are back on or buried in American soil.
Captian Harry M. Ravenna III was only 29 when his plane went down.
Promoted to MAJOR since reported missing.
Name: Harry M. Ravenna III
Rank/Branch: O3/US Army
Unit: 138th Aviation Company, 224th USASA Battalion, USASA Group, Vietnam
Date of Birth: 29 September 1937 (Houston TX)
Home City of Record: San Antonio TX
Loss Date: 15 November 1966
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 162535N 1074619E (ZD150045)
Status (in 1973): Missing In Action
Category: 4
Acft/Vehicle/Ground: (Aircraft) U6A
Other Personnel In Incident: John C. Keiper (missing)
Cpl. John C. Keiper was only 21 years old when his plane went down.
Promoted GUNNERY SERGEANT since reported missing.
Name: John Charles Keiper
Rank/Branch: E4/USMC
Unit: HAMS 16, Marine Air Group 16
Date of Birth: 18 September 1945
Home City of Record: Renovo PA
Loss Date: 15 November 1966
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 162535N 1074619E (ZD150045)
Status (in 1973): Missing In Action
Category: 3
Acft/Vehicle/Ground: (Aircraft) U6A
Other Personnel In Incident: Harry M. Ravenna (missing)
REMARKS:
SYNOPSIS:
On November 15, 1966, US Army Capt. Harry M. Ravenna, pilot; and USMarine Corps Cpl. John C.Keiper, passenger, were flying a U6A aircraft(serial #541723) on a routine flight from Dong Ha to Da Nang. Keiper wasassigned to Helicopter Attack Maintenance Squadron 16, Marine Air Group 16.His role on this mission is unclear from public record.Ravenna was assigned to the 138th Aviation Company, 224th U.S. ArmySecurity Agency Battalion (Aviation), U.S. Army Security Agency Group, Vietnam.
All missions of this agency were highly classified during the war.Secret cover designations (Radio Research Units) were used instead of theactual unit designations on station lists and reports.The 138th was based at Da Nang.
Ravena filed a VFR (visual flight rules) flight plan, but ran into poor weather conditions. He radioed Dong Ha and requested radar guidance.At 1430 hours, he passed into Da Nang airfield radar control and radioed,"Lonely Ranger 723, Presently on heading 125, 3000 feet, estimating Da Nangat 40 miles, request radar assistance.
Their
Instruments Having trouble bringing him onto the radar screen,Da Nang instructed
Ravenna to activate his transponder, but this did notimprove radar contact,
so they asked his location, which he gave as 45nautical miles from Dong
Ha. Da Nang instructed him to recontact Dong Ha,
believing
he was out of Da Nang range and still in that of Dong Ha. Ravennaacknowledged
the transmission, at which time radio contact was broken.Contact was never
resumed.
Ravenna
and Keiper were last believed to be in South Vietnam about halfwaybetween
Da Nang and the city of Hue. Later investigation concluded that onhis present
course, had it been followed, Ravenna's aircraft would haveimpacted with
the side of a mountain in that vicinity. The hostile threatin the area
prevented extensive search, and all efforts to discover the
fate
of Ravenna and Keiper have failed.
Keiper
and Ravenna are among nearly 2500 Americans who did not return fromthe
war in Vietnam. Today, thousands of reports have been received by theU.S.Government
that indicate that men are alive still, held in captivity inSoutheast Asia.
Thus far, official policy is to state that
"conclusive
proof" is not yet available. Detractors
state that proof is in hand, but
the will to act on that proof does not exist.
As long as even ONE American is alive, held against his will, we must do everything in our powerto achieve his release.
This Operation Just Cause Web Ring site is owned by |
 |
This POW/MIA Ring
site |
|
Contact "Gunny" and adopt a HERO of your own.
We must not rest until they are all home.
"All Biographical and loss information on POWs
provided by Operation Just Cause have been supplied by
Chuck and Mary Schantag of POWNET. Please check
with POWNET regularly for updates."
