Capt. John N. Flanigan, USMC

Name: John Norlee Flanigan
Rank/Branch: O3/US Marine Corps
Unit: VMGA 542, MAG 11
Date of Birth: 07 August 1934
Home City of Record: Winter Haven FL
Date of Loss: 19 August 1969
Country of Loss: North Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 170400N 1070600E (XE810020)
Status (in 1973): Missing in Action
Category: 2
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: F4B
Other Personnel in Incident: Robert N. Smith (missing)

Source:

Compiled by Homecoming II Project with the assistance of Task Force Omega from one or more of the following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA families, published sources,interviews.
Date Compiled: 01 January 1990

Synopsis:

On August 19, 1969, Lt.Col. Robert N. Smith, pilot, and Capt.
John N. Flanigan, radar intercept officer, departed Da Nang in their F4B Phantom
fighter/bomber jet aircraft to fly escort on a photo reconnaissance mission just north of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ).

Smith's aircraft made one run over the target, and then he and the other aircraft separated and were supposed to rendezvous for a second run. Smith never returned for the second run, and contact was never established with Smith or his backseater.

It was never determined whether Smith's aircraft was shot down or crashed because of a malfunction. However, the area in which they were last seen, about 5 miles east of the city of Vinh Linh in Quang Binh Province, North Vietnam, was relatively heavily defended. The U.S. believes there is a high degree of probability that the enemy knew what happened to Smith and Flanigan.

Smith and Flanigan were not among the prisoners of war that were released in 1973. High ranking U.S. officials admit their dismay that "hundreds" of suspected American prisoners of war did not return.

Five Brave American Heroes

Home At Last

UNITED STATES AIR FORCE NEWS RELEASE-60TH AIR MOBILITY WING(AMW) PUBLIC

AFFAIRS DIVISION, TRAVIS AFB, CA PHONE: (707)424-2011

NEWS RELEASE NO. 9706-20 JUNE 26, 1997

The remains of FIVE American service members previously unaccounted for from
Southeast Asia have been identified and are being returned to their families for burial in the United States. Their remains will be repatriated in a ceremony at 4:00 pm June 26 on the Travis flightline.

They are identified as

LT.COL.LEWIS H. ABRAMS, MARINE CORPS, of Montclair ,N.J.

MAJ. ROBERT E. HOLDEMAN, MARINE CORPS. of Winchester, Ind.; and

CAPTAIN JOHN N. FLANIGAN, MARINE CORPS, of Winter Haven, Fla.

THE NAMES OF TWO AIR FORCE AVIATORS WILL NOT BE RELEASED AT THE REQUEST OF THEIR FAMILIES.

On August 19, 1969, Flanigan and his pilot were flying an F-4B as escort for a photo recon mission over North Vietnam. They lost contact with other aircraft in their flight, and never made it back to their base at Danang, South Vietnam.

In 1989, the Vietnamese gov. repatriated remains believed to be those of Flanigan. Four subsequent joint US and Vietnamese invetstigations were able to locate their crash site in Quang Binh Province. The site was excavated in 1995 where aircraft wreakage, aircrew related items, and personnel effects were located, but NO human remains were found.

The remains of Flanigan turned over by the Vietnamese were positively identified and Mitochondrial DNA testing was used to confirm the identification.

On Nov. 25, 1967, Abrams and Holdeman were shot down while flying a night strike mission near Haiphong, North Vietnam. A radio Peking broadcast confirmed the Marine Corps aircraft had been shot down in the vicinity of Haiphong. In 1988, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam repatriated what they belived to be the remains of U.S. service personnel lost during the Vietnam War. Included in the remains was a military identification card fragment with what appeared to be the name Abrams.

In 1993 and 1995, joint U.S. and Vietnamese teams investigated and excavuated a crash site in Hai Phong Province. Local villagers reported that remains had been previously recovered and turned over to higher authorities. They also turned over bone fragments found near the crash site.

With the identification of these FIVE service members, 2118 Americans remain unaccounted for from the Vietnam War.** No additonal information about the two Air Force avaitors has been given.****

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 men and women who remain missing in Southeast Asia can be accounted for. Smith and Flanigan could be among them. Isn't it time we brought our men home?

Now Flanigan is home again, but there are still so many other unaccounted men and women who have given their all for their country. Please remember these heros and let your voice speak for them

I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to keep pushing this issue inside the Beltway...
The need to get specific answers is more important now than ever before. If still alive, some MIAs are now in their 70s...They don't have much time left. We have to demand the answers from the bureaucrats and keep standing on their necks (figuratively speaking) until they get the message that THEY work for US and that we are serious about getting these long overdue responses.

Diplomatic considerations aside... We can no longer allow questionable protocols established by
pseudo-aristocratic armchair strategists, to determine or influence the fate of the men who were in the trenches while the diplomats were sharing sherry and canapés and talking about "Their Plans" for the future of SE Asia.

If you'd like to see what some others are doing in addition to writing their congressmen, senators and the Whitehouse, check out some of these sites: Pow/Mia Mailing Lists

Another remarkable site is by an 11 year old angel who never even set foot on American soil...She not only put up a page...she started a major project for an organization of Kids on the Net called KeyPals International. Visit her MIA but don't miss her Bring Grandpa Home page. If you come away from that site without a lump in your throat, then you just weren't paying attention.

February 10, 1998

Dear John:

If by chance you happen to have the ability to access the Internet and/or the World Wide Web wherever you find yourself. Please know that you were never forgotten.

Now and forever : ~*Rest in Peace*~

Love and Light

Your adopted Mother

This POW/MIA Ring site is owned by Shekinah's Realms of Ravenwood Site ID#272. [ Prev | Skip It | Next 5 | Random | Next | Index]

This POW/MIA Ring site
is owned by Shekinah's Realms of Ravenwood Site ID#272.

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