EDWARDS, HARRY SANFORD JR.
Remains returned 09/96

Name: Harry Sanford Edwards, Jr.
Rank/Branch: O2/US Navy
Unit: Attack Squadron 153, USS CONSTELLATION (CVA-64)
Date of Birth: 06 November 1943 (Wheeling WV)
Home City of Record: Decatur GA
Date of Loss: 20 October 1966
Country of Loss: North Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 202100N 1060800E (XH175508)
Status (in 1973): Missing in Action
Category: 2
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: A4C
Refno: 0500
Other Personnel in Incident: (none missing)

Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project with the assistance of one or more
of the following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources,
correspondence with POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews: 01
January 1990. Updated by the P.O.W. NETWORK 1998.

REMARKS:

SYNOPSIS: Lt.Cdr. Harry S. Edwards, Jr. was a pilot assigned to Attack
Squadron 153 onboard the aircraft carrier USS CONSTELLATION (CVA-64). On
October 20, 1966 he launched in his A4C "Skyhawk" as the number two man in a
flight of six A4s and two F4 Phantom jets. Their mission was to bomb the
Trinh Xu Yen Bridge at Nam Dinh, Nam Ha Province, North Vietnam.

Edwards entered a 45 degree dive bombing attack on the bridge, following the
flight leader. The number 3 man in the flight say Edwards' aircraft impact
the ground approximately 300 yards east of the bridge. A large fireball was
observed at the crash site. No attempt to recover from the dive was noted;
no radio transmissions were hears; no ejection or parachute was seen; and no
emergency radio beeper signals were heard.

A thorough visual search of the target area by the remainder of the flight
failed to produce any evidence of Lt.Cdr. Edwards' survival. There was
moderate 85 mm anti-aircraft fire observed enroute to the target area. No
enemy fire was observed in the immediate area of the attack, however,
numerous active anti-aircraft sites were known to be in the area. This was
Harry S. Edwards' second combat mission.

After visual searches failed to locate Edwards, he was classified Missing in
Action. There was still the possibility that he ejected unseen and had
survived in spite of the lack of emergency radio signals.

In the spring of 1973, when 591 Americans were released from prison camps in
Southeast Asia, Harry S. Edwards, Jr. was not among them. He remains
missing. The U.S. believes there is a high probability that the Vietnamese
know the fate of Edwards, but as yet, they have not been forthcoming with
information concerning him.

Nearly 3000 Americans remained prisoner, missing, or otherwise unaccounted
for at the end of U.S. involvement in Southeast Asia. The return of remains
have accounted for a sigificant number of these men, yet by the end of 1989,
over 2300 were still missing.

Tragically, more that 10,000 reports have been received by the U.S.
Government related to Americans missing in Southeast Asia. Many authorities
believe that there are hundreds of Americans still alive, waiting for their
country to rescue them. If Harry S. Edwards is one of them, what must he be
thinking of us? It's time we brought our men home.

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