BADOLATI, FRANK NEIL

Name: Frank Neil Badolati
Rank/Branch: E6/US Army Special Forces
Unit: HQ & HQ Company, 5th Special Forces Group ABN 1SF SFG
Date of Birth: 19 March 1933 (New York, NY)
Home City of Record: Goffstown NH
Date of Loss: 29 January 1966
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 143704N 1085242E (BS719172)
Status (in 1973): Killed/Body Not Recovered
Category: 3
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: Ground
Refno: 0242

Other Personnel In Incident: Cecil J. Hodgson; Ronald T. Terry (both
missing); Wiley W. Grey (survived) (other survivors)

Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 30 June 1990 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.


REMARKS: BAD WOUND-PROB BLED TO DEATH-J

SYNOPSIS: Frank N. Badaloti and Ronald T. Terry were riflemen on a Special
Forces reconnaissance team operating in An Lao Valley of Binh Dinh Province
12 miles west of Tam Quan in South Vietnam when his team was split during a
firefight. The patrol came under enemy fire on the afternoon of 28 January
1966 during which time Badolati was hit. Cecil Hodgson, the patrol leader,
from Detachment B52 Delta, was apparently treating Badolati's wounds as the
patrol traveled in small groups from the location where Badolati was hit.
Badolati was with two other individuals who survived, and as he was too
badly wounded to continue, the three remained for about two hours in their
position.

Badolati's condition worsened, and when the two survivors left the area,
they reported that Badolati was dead. They had no choice but to leave his
body behind.

Hodgson and Terry evaded for the rest of the day. On January 29, they moved
at first light into a defensive position, whereupon they encountered enemy
forces and another firefight ensued. Terry indicated that he had been hit,
and others thought he had been killed. When they looked for Hodgson, he was
gone. Survivors heard additional shots, which they believed were shots fired
at Hodgson, and they believed he also had been killed.

The team could not search for Hodgson because of the heavy enemy activity,
and were forced to move to a rallying point. They evaded capture for the
remainder of the day, and were ultimately picked up by helicopter.

Searches for all three missing were conducted for the next 4 days with no
results. Hodgson was classified Missing In Action. Badolati and Terry were
classified Killed/Body Not Recovered.

Since the end of the war, over 10,000 reports relating to Americans
prisoner, missing or unaccounted for in Southeast Asia have been received by
the U.S Government. Many authorities who have reviewed this intelligence
material, including a former Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency,
believe that hundreds of Americans are still alive, held captive. Hodgson
could be among them. If alive, what must he be thinking of us?


Cecil J. Hodgson was promoted to the rank of Master Sergeant during the
period he was maintained missing.

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