BLACK, PAUL VERNON

Name: Paul Vernon Black
Rank/Branch: W1/US Army
Unit: 11th Aviation Group, 1st Cavalry Division
Date of Birth: 26 April 1948 (Santa Cruz CA)
Home City of Record: Central Valley CA
Date of Loss: 01 March 1971
Country of Loss: Cambodia
Loss Coordinates: 115940N 1055238E (WU955265)
Status (in 1973): Killed/Body Not Recovered
Category: 2
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: UH1H
Refno: 1712
Other Personnel in Incident: (none missing)

REMARKS:

Source: Compiled 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 in 1998.

SYNOPSIS: On March 1, 1971, W1 Paul V. Black was the aircraft commander of a
UH1H helicopter on a combat mission about 15 miles within Cambodia in
Kampong Cham Province. During the mission, the aircraft received enemy
ground fire, crashed and burned. The helicopter apparently lost its main
rotor on impact with the ground. The vehicle exploded into a fireball. All
the crew members were aboard the aircraft at the time, and none were seen to
exit.

Subsequent recovery efforts recovered the remains of the pilot and
passengers (no further identification available), but no trace could be
found of W1 Black. Although he is thought to have perished in the crash of
the aircraft, the U.S. believes that the enemy forces in the area probably
know his fate.

Fifteen years after the war, the Cambodian (Kampuchean) government let it be
known that they had the remains of nearly 100 Americans. Unfortunately, the
U.S. has no diplomatic relations with Kampuchea and would not officially
respond. Although several U.S. Congressmen have attempted to recover the
remains of these Americans, the government of Kampuchea clearly wishes an
official request from the U.S., which the U.S. Government is unwilling to
give.

It is not thought that Americans captured by the Cambodian communists were
allowed to survive, but were instead executed. As Vietnamese troops also
coursed through Cambodia, as in Laos, however, a significant number of these
downed pilots and crew might have been captured by the Vietnamese, thus
escaping the post-war holocost caused by the Pol Pot regime in Cambodia.

The governments of Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and the United States have for
nearly 20 years engaged in political pandering while reports mount that
Americans are still alive in Southeast Asia. It's time we brought our men
home.

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