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THIS POW/MIA PAGE IS DEDICATED TO:
MISSING IN ACTION - MAY 22, 1968
A FALLEN AMERICAN HERO
Name:SMS. Gary Pate
Rank/Branch: E4/USAF
Unit: 41st Tactical Airlift Squadron, Ubon Airbase, Thailand
Date of Birth: 03 June 1946
Home City of Record: Brooks GA
Date of Loss:
Wednesday, 22 May 1968
Country of Loss:
Laos
Loss Coordinates:
162000N 1063000E (XC843858)
Status (in 1973):
Missing In Action
Category:
4
Acft/Vehicle/Ground:
C130A
The Wall:
Panel 66E - Row 003
Marital Status:
Single
Casualty type:
Hostile, died while missing(A3)
Date of Casualty:
Thursday, January 9, 1975
Lenght of Time:
Six Years - Seven Months - Eighteen Days
It is about time that we speak out and demand that our
government bring our soldiers home. Please contact your Senators or Member of Congress let them
know we will hold them accountable. To obtain EMail addresses for the Senators, Congressmen and
Whitehouse go to:
Senate
Congress
President & Vice President
If you are located in Georgia, please write or email one or more of the following
on behalf of SMS Gary Pate.
Senator Saxby Chambliss
416 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Senator Saxby Chambliss
Senator Johnny Isakson
120 Russell Senate Building
Washington, DC 20510
(202)224-3643
(Fax:(202 228-0724
Senator Johnny Isakson
Congressman Jack Kingston-1st
1507 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
NO EMAIL ADDRESS
Congressman Sanford Bishop-2nd
1433 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
NO EMAIL ADDRESS
Congressman Mac Collins-3rd
1130 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Congressman Mac Collins
Congressman John Lewis-5th
229 Cannon Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
NO EMAIL ADDRESS
Congressman Nathan Deal-9th
1406 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
NO EMAIL ADDRESS
Congressman Charles Norwood-10th
1707 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Congressman Charles Norwood
Congressman John Linder-11th
1005 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
NO EMAIL ADDRESS
Other Personnel in Incident All Missing:
Crew
Passenger
Thanks Gunny
Graphics byRon Fleischman
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/2107/pow.html
http://www.sihope.com/~tipi/mia.html
http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Downs/1472/mia.html
C130
Source:
Compiled by Homecoming II Project 31 April 1990 from one or more of the
following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with
POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews.
REMARKS: CONTACT LOST - NFI
SYNOPSIS:
The Lockheed C130 Hercules aircraft was a multi-purpose propeller
driven aircraft, and was used as transport, tanker, gunship, drone controller,
airborne battlefield command and control center, weather reconnaissance craft,
electronic reconnaissance platform; search, rescue and recovery craft.
In the hands of the "trash haulers", as the crews of Tactical Air Command transports styled themselves, the C130 proved the most valuable airlift
instrument in the Southeast Asia conflict, so valuable that Gen. William Momyer,
7th Air Force commander, refused for a time to let them land at Khe Sanh where
the airstrip was under fire from NVA troops surrounding that base.
Just following the Marine Corps operation Pegasus/Lam Son 207 in mid-April 1968, to relieve the siege of Khe Sanh, Operation Scotland II began in the Khe Sanh area, more or less as a continuation of this support effort. The C130 was critical in resupplying this area, and when the C130 couldn't land, dropped its payload by means of parachute drop.
One of the bases from which the C130 flew was Ubon, located in northeast Thailand. C130 crews from this base crossed Laos to their objective location. One such crew was comprised of LtCol. William H. Mason and Capt. Thomas B. Mitchell, pilots; Capt. William T. McPhail, Maj. Jerry L. Chambers, SMS Gary Pate, SSgt. Calvin C. Glover, AM1 Melvin D. Rash, and AM1 John Q. Adam, crew members.
On May 22, 1968, this crew departed Ubon on an operational mission in a C130A carrying one passenger - AM1 Thomas E. Knebel. Radio contact was lost while the aircraft was over Savannakhet Province, Laos near the city of Muong Nong,(suggesting that its target area may have been near the DMZ - Khe Sanh). When the aircraft did not return to friendly control, the crew was declared Missing In Action from the time of estimated fuel exhaustion. There was no further word of the aircraft or its crew.
The nine members of the crew are among nearly 600 Americans who disappeared in
Laos. Many are known to have been alive on the ground following their shoot
downs. Although the Pathet Lao publicly stated on several occasions that they
held "tens of tens" of American prisoners, not one American held in Laos has
ever been released. Laos did not participate in the Paris Peace accords ending
American involvment in the war in 1973, and no treaty has ever been signed that
would free the Americans held in Laos, and not one of them has returned home.
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