Never Forgotten
This page is
dedicated to:
Captain John Wadsworth Consolva, Jr.
Name: John Wadsworth Consolvo, Jr.
Rank/Branch: O3/US Marine Corps
Unit: Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 212, 1st
Brigade, MAG 24
Date of Birth: 08 January 1944
Home City of Record: Ft. Belvoir VA
Date of Loss: 07 May 1972
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 164800N 1065700E
(YD010555)
Status (in 1973): Missing In Action
Category: 2
Acft/Vehicle/Ground: F4J BuNo #155576
Refno: 1845
Other Personnel In Incident:
James J. Castonguay, successfully
ejectected
Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 01 April
1991
from one or more of
the following: raw data from U.S. Government
agency sources, correspondence
with POW/MIA families, published sources,
interviews. Updated by the P.O.W.
NETWORK 1998 with information from Steven P.
Albright.
SYNOPSIS: Capt. John W. Consolvo was on a
combat
mission out of Da Nang,
South Vietnam when his aircraft was hit by ground
fire as he pulled off
target. He flew the aircraft about 18
miles to a safer bail-out area before
the craft became uncontrollable.
Although Consolvo's mission was in South
Vietnam near the DMZ, the ground fire
that struck his aircraft came from
Laos.
Consolvo radioed that the aircraft was
incapacitated and ordered his radar
intercept officer, CWO James J. Castonguay, to eject.
The officer
successfully reached the ground,
was rescued after 19 hours and returned to
Da Nang.
The F4 crashed 3-4 miles from the location the RIO
landed, in enemy
territory (probably just inside Laos). Although the
RIO did not see his
pilot eject, he believed he could have
easily ejected and probably did. The
wingman and forward air controller on the
mission did not see him eject, but
they had been unable to keep the plane constantly in
sight.
John Consolvo flew over 150 combat missions
on his first tour of Vietnam. He
was into his second tour when he was
shot down on May 7, 1972. He had been
in the Marine Corps since 1966.
If John Consolvo was unfortunate enough
to be apprehended by the Pathet Lao,
he is among nearly 600 Americans who
disappeared without trace. The Pathet
Lao stated on several occasions that
they held "tens of tens" of American
prisoners, yet not one man held in Laos
was ever released - or negotiated
for. Circumstances surrounding his crash
indicate that the Vietnamese or Lao
could account for his fate - alive or
dead.
John Consolvo does not deserve
the abandonment he has received by
the country he proudly served.
John W. Consolvo, Jr. graduated
from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1966.
We must do all we can to bring these boys
home,
and give their families peace!
I received this email on 9/6/02 from
POW/MIA
AMERICANS MISSING IN ACTION
Of all the fates that can befall a member of the
armed forces,
one of the most terrible is to be listed as missing
in action.
Americans killed in action die with the assurance
that every
possible effort will be made to recover their remains
for
proper burial, that their families will be notified
of their
deaths, and that their sacrifice will be remembered
by a
grateful American people. American prisoners of war
knew that
their countrymen would never rest until they were
free. But the
fate of America's missing in action imposes a
special
obligation on the United States.
The U.S. is bound by law and morality to account for
each and
every American still listed as missing in action from
armed
conflicts. If possible, the remains of M-I-A's
confirmed to be
dead must be found and properly interred. And so long
as the
possibility exists that missing American servicemen
may still
be alive, the U.S. must make every effort to find
them and
bring them home.
It was for this purpose that the U.S. Congress passed
the Bring
Them Home Alive Act of 2000. More than eight-thousand
Americans
are still missing from the Korean War and almost
two-thousand
are unaccounted for from the Vietnam War. The law
provides
asylum to "any alien who is a national of Vietnam,
Cambodia,
Laos, China, North Korea, or any of the independent
states of
the former Soviet Union who personally delivers into
the
custody of the United States government a living
American
serviceman" listed as missing in action from either
the Korean
war or the Vietnam war. The law also provides asylum
for the
families of those who assist American servicemen in
reaching
U.S. authorities.
Since the end of the war in Vietnam in 1975, there
have been
reports of sightings of American servicemen said to
be held in
Southeast Asia. But so far, no such reports have
been
confirmed.
Anyone with information concerning Americans listed
as missing
in action should contact U.S. authorities.
JOINT TASK FORCE-FULL ACCOUNTING PUBLIC AFFAIRS (808)
477-5301
RELEASE NO. #02-09
June 24, 2002
ORGANIZATIONS MERGE FOR MORE EFFICIENT RECOVERY
OF
UNACCOUNTED-FOR SERVICEMEN
HICKAM AFB, Hawaii - The
Department of Defense has recommended
the merging of the U.S. Army Central Identification
Laboratory,
Hawaii (CILHI) and Joint Task Force-Full Accounting
(JTF-FA)
into one organization. The goal is to have the
organizations
merged by October 2003.
The recommendation was made by the U.S.
Commander-in-Chief of
> the Pacific Command to merge both units to
increase the
operational efficiency under the same commander and
staff.
"The new command would have the mission to search
for, recover
and identify remains of American military personnel
and
American civilian personnel unaccounted for from
World War II,
the Korean War, the Cold War and the Vietnam War. The
merging
of the two units and standup of a single joint
command is
operationally sound and will clearly demonstrate the
U.S.
Government's increased commitment to resolving the
accounting
mission," said Joint Task Force-Full Accounting
Commander Brig.
Gen. Steven J. Redmann.
All present day missions and functions at CILHI and
JTF-FA will
continue, unless otherwise directed by the Department
of
Defense. The merger will not lessen either
organization's
commitment or efforts to the accounting effort.
All
investigative and recovery teams will continue
deploying
worldwide in full strength.
"CILHI and JTF-FA remain devoted, dedicated and
determined to
achieving the fullest possible accounting of our
missing
personnel from our nation's wars. This is another
step to
increase efforts for the mission of bringing home
our
unaccounted for service members. Combining both our
assets,
personnel and expertise can only equal a stronger and
more
efficient organization," said CILHI Deputy Commander
Johnie E.
Webb Jr.
Prior to the merger, Department of Defense personnel
will
determine staffing, budget and facility requirements
through
several studies. The merger committee will consist of
personnel
from the Joint Staff, Army Staff, the Defense
POW/Missing
r more information contact the CILHI Public Affairs
Officer
Ginger Couden at (808) 448-8903 ext. 109 or JTF-FA
Public
Affairs Officer Capt Gina Jackson at (808)
477-5301.
Sept 6 2002
A court in Cambodia has convicted a former Khmer
Rouge leader for
the 1994 murders of a British backpacker and his two
companions.
Chhouk Rin was sentenced to life in prison for the
killings of
Mark Slater and his two friends at the Appeals Court
in Phnom
Penh.
Rin was acquitted two years ago by a municipal court
of charges
that he and other Khmer Rouge members kidnapped and
murdered the
three.
Friday, 6 September, 2002, 08:21 GMT 09:21
UK
Cambodia guerrilla leader gets life
A Cambodian court has sentenced a former Khmer Rouge
leader,
Chhouk Rin, to life in prison over the abduction and
murder of
three Western backpackers.
The ruling followed an appeal by families of the
victims against
an amnesty that allowed Chhouk Rin to walk free after
being found
guilty of the charges in 2000.
Chhouk Rin was not present at the hearing, and his
lawyer told
the Associated Press news agency that he would appeal
to the
Cambodia's Supreme Court, his last possible legal
avenue.
He and other Khmer Rouge members had been convicted
of kidnapping
and murdering Briton Mark Slater, Frenchman
Jean-Michel Braquet
and Australian David Wilson in 1994 after ambushing
the train on
which the three were travelling.
"Since Chhouk Rin was the commander who sent his
troops to
participate in the train attack" he was responsible
for the
murders, appeals court chief Judge Somreth Sophal
said.
Chhouk Rin told AFP news agency from his hideout in
Kampot,
southern Cambodia, on Friday that he was still
considering
whether to hand himself over to the
authorities.
But he insisted that the verdict was
wrong.
"I didn't do it... This is an injustice for
me."
The appeal against Chhouk Rin's release was filed by
the father
of French victim, who was present in court along with
his lawyer
to hear the verdict read out.
"Finally, justice has been done," Mr Bracqet
said.
Brutal killings
The three backpackers were travelling between the
Cambodian
capital Phnom Penh and the southern city of
Sihanoukville when
their train was ambushed by Khmer Rouge guerrillas,
who killed 10
Cambodians and kidnapped the three men.
The three were held ransom for two months in the
nearby Vine
Mountain rebel base in the province of
Kampot.
When ransom negotiations fell through the three were
beaten to
death by their captors.
The Cambodian courts has taken action against two
other Khmer
Rouge commanders for their role in the backpacker
murders this
year.
International pressure
The life sentencing of Nuon Paet, who was jailed for
life in
June, was upheld by the Supreme Court on Wednesday,
and another
commander, Sam Bith, was arrested in May and is in
jail awaiting
trial.
However, there is continuing international concern
that
Cambodia's Government is not serious about its
commitment to
bring former Khmer Rouge leaders to trial.
The BBC's correspondent in Cambodia, Claire Arthurs,
says many
people believe the prosecutions for the train murders
are an
isolated example and the result of pressure from
three Western
governments, all donors to Cambodia's national
development
programe.
The Khmer Rouge regime, led by the late Pol Pot, is
believed to
have been responsible for as many as two million
deaths during
its brutal rule in the 1970s.
The Senate is back from their summer
vacation and S 1226 - The POW/MIA Flag
Bill needs cosponsors. This bill would require the
POW/MIA Flag fly at
the World War II, Korean War, and Vietnam Memorial
year around.
Please contact your senators and ask that they co
sponsor S 1226.
As of this date there are 16 cosponsors. They are Sen
Wayne
Allard, Sen Joseph Biden Jr., Sen Jim Bunning, Sen
Max Cleland, Sen
Susan Collins, Sen Jon Corzine, Sen Larry Craig, Sen
Michael
DeWine, Sen
Russell Feingold, Sen Judd Gregg, Sen Jesse Helms,
Sen Tim
Hutchinson, Sen
Mitch McConnell, Sen Rick Santorum, Sen Bob Smith,
Sen Robert
Torricelli.
--
"A MAN IS NOT DEAD UNTIL HE IS FORGOTTEN"
*************I WILL REMEMBER*************
Song playing: Across The Miles
by: James Titus
Created by: Maureen
