GREEN, FRANK CLIFFORD JR.

Name: Frank Clifford Green, Jr.
Rank/Branch: O5/US Navy
Unit: Attack Squadron 212, USS HANCOCK (CVA 19)
Date of Birth: 05 June 1935
Home City of Record: Waskom TX
Date of Loss: 10 July 1972
Country of Loss: North Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 201100N 1055700E (WH871207)
Status (in 1973): Missing in Action
Category: 2
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: A4F
Refno: 1895
Other Personnel in Incident: (none missing)

Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 30 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. Updated by the P.O.W.
NETWORK 1998.

REMARKS:

SYNOPSIS: The USS HANCOCK first saw action in Vietnam when aircraft from her
decks flew strikes against enemy vessels in Saigon Harbor in late 1944. The
Essex class carrier, extensively modernized, returned to Vietnam during the
early years of the Vietnam war. The attack carriers USS CORAL SEA, USS
HANCOCK and USS RANGER formed Task Force 77, the carrier striking force of
the U.S. Seventh Fleet in the Western Pacific. The HANCOCK was the smallest
type of flattop to operate in the Vietnam theater, but pilots from her
fighter and attack squadrons distinguished themselves throughout the
duration of the war. On June 12, 1966, Commander Hal Marr, the CO of VF-211
gained the first F8 Russian MiG kill.

Commander Frank C. Green was a pilot assigned to Attack Squadron 212 onboard
the USS HANCOCK. On July 10, 1972, CDR Green was launched in his A4F Skyhawk
aircraft to lead a night armed reconnaissance mission over North Vietnam.

Green and his wingman had completed the armed reconnaissance of an assigned
road segment and proceeded on their secondary mission to locate and destroy
any targets of opportunity they might find. They sighted vehicle lights some
distance south of their position and flew in that direction in order to make
an unlighted bomb attack. Shortly after the attack, the wingman observed a
small flash in the general target area immediately followed by a large, fuel
type, secondary explosion on the ground. Not hearing an acknowledgement that
CDR Green was off the target or a reply to his comments about the explosion,
the wingman suspected that the explosion might be CDR Green's aircraft.

Search and rescue efforts were initiated immediately, but attempts made to
contact CDR Green met with negative results. The crash site was located, and
shortly after, the crash site had been camouflaged. It was believed that
Green would not have camouflaged the site before he could be rescued. Since
it was not known if CDR Green was killed in the crash of his aircraft or
survived to be captured, Green was placed in a casualty status of Missing in
Action. Since the area in which he crashed (about 5 miles southwest of the
city of Ninh Binh in Ninh Binh Province) was near a heavily populated area,
there is every reason to believe the North Vietnamese could tell us what
happened to CDR Frank C. Green.

When 591 Americans were released from POW camps at the end of the war, CDR
Green was not among them. Military officials were startled that "hundreds"
suspected to be prisoner or expected to be released, were not freed. Since
that time, nearly 10,000 reports relating to Americans missing, prisoner or
unaccounted for in Southeast Asia have been received by the U.S. Government.
Many officials, having reviewed this largely classified information, believe
that there are hundreds of Americans still alive in captivity today.

Whether CDR Frank C. Green, Jr. survived to be captured is not known. If he
is among those believed to still be alive is uncertain. What is certain,
however, is that the United States has a legal and moral obligation to the
men she sent to war in her name. If there is even one American held alive
against his will, we must do everything in our power to bring him home.

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