LONNIE PAT BOGARD
MAJ - Air Force - Regular
Rank/Branch: O3/US Air Force
Unit: 435th Tactical Fighter
Squadron, Ubon AF TH
36 year old Single, Caucasian,
Male
Born on May 11, 1942
From METAIRIE, LOUISIANA
His tour of duty began on May
12, 1972
Casualty was on Jul 26, 1978
Date of Loss: 12 May 1972
Country of Loss: Laos
Loss Coordinates: 171200N 1960900E
(XE222018)
Hostile, died while missing
FIXED WING - PILOT
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: F4D
AIR LOSS, CRASH ON LAND
Status (in 1973): Missing in
Action
Body was not recovered
Religion
BAPTIST
Refno: 1856
Panel 01W - - Line 24
Other Personnel in Incident:
William H. Ostermeyer (missing)
Category: 4
REMARKS:
SYNOPSIS: The Phantom, used by
Air Force, Marine and Navy air wings, served
a multitude of functions including
fighter-bomber and interceptor, photo and
electronic surveillance. The
two man aircraft was extremely fast (Mach 2),
and had a long range (900 -
2300 miles, depending on stores and mission
type). The F4 was also extremely
maneuverable and handled well at low and
high altitudes. The F4 was selected
for a number of state-of-the-art
electronics conversions, which
improved radar intercept and computer bombing
capabilities enormously. Most
pilots considered it one of the "hottest"
planes around.
Capt. Lonnie P. Bogard, had celebrated
his birthday the day before he was
assigned a night low-level reconnaissance
mission along the Ho Chi Minh
trail on May 12, 1972. Bogard
was the pilot, and 1Lt. William H. Ostermeyer
the electronics officer comprising
the crew of an F4D Phantom. The mission
went according to plan until
after a scheduled mid-air refueling, after
which radio contact was lost
with the aircraft. At last contact, Bogard and
Ostermeyer were near the Ban
Karai Pass in Savannakhet Province, Laos.
The Ban Karai Pass was one of
several passageways through the mountainous
border of Vietnam and Laos.
American aircraft flying from Thailand to
missions over North Vietnam
flew through them regularly, and many aircraft
were lost. On the Laos side
of the border coursed the "Ho Chi Minh Trail", a
road heavily traveled by North
Vietnamese troops moving materiel and
personnel to their destinations
through the relative safety of neutral Laos.
The return ratio of men lost
in and around the passes is far lower than that
of those men lost in more populous
areas, even though both were shot down by
the same enemy and the same
weapons. This is partly due to the extremely
rugged terrain and resulting
difficulty in recovery.
The U.S. Air Force placed Bogard
and Ostermeyer in the category of Missing
in Action. The Defense Intelligence
Agency (DIA) further refined that
category to include the likelihood
of enemy knowledge, classifying Bogard
and Ostermeyer as Category 4.
Category 4 includes those individuals on whom
no intelligence exists to support
the belief that the enemy knew details of
the loss, or individuals whose
loss time and location are unknown.
The families of Bogard and Ostermeyer
understood that the two could have
been captured by either Pathet
Lao forces or North Vietnamese, and waited
for the war to end.
When peace agreements were signed,
Secretary of State Henry Kissinger
informed the families of the
men prisoner and missing that their men would
soon come home. When asked specifically
if the agreements included all
countries (Vietnam, Cambodia,
China and Laos), Kissinger replied, "What do
you think took us so long."
When 591 American prisoners were
released in the spring of 1973, it became
evident that Kissinger had lied
to the families. No prisoners held by the
Chinese, Lao or Cambodians were
released, even though the Pathet Lao had
stated on a number of occasions
that they held "tens of tens" of Americans.
Kissinger had not negotiated
for these men.
In Laos alone, nearly 600 Americans
are Prisoner of War or Missing in
Action. Since 1975, nearly 10,000
reports relating to Americans still
missing in Southeast Asia, convincing
many authorities that hundreds of
Americans are still held in
captivity. Lonnie Bogard and William Ostermeyer
could be among them. It's time
we brought our men home.