HALL, HARLEY HUBERT
REMAINS RETURNED 06/95 (I.D. disputed)
Name: Harley Hubert Hall
Rank/Branch: O5/US Navy, pilot
Unit: Fighter Squadron 143, USS ENTERPRISE (CV-65)
Date of Birth: 23 December 1937 (Broken Bow NE)
Home City of Record: Vancouver WA
Date of Loss: 27 January 1973
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 165129N 1071023E (YO345650)
Status (in 1973): Prisoner of War
Category: 1
Acft/Vehicle/Ground: F4J
Other Personnel In Incident: Phillip A. Kientzler (released 1973)
Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 01 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.
REMARKS: KIENTZLER TOLD HALL KILLED
SYNOPSIS: CDR Harley H. Hall was the commanding officer of Fighter Squadron 143
onboard the aircraft carrier USS ENTERPRISE. On January 27, 1973 he and his
Radar Intercept Officer (RIO), LTCDR Philip A. Kientzler, launched in their F4J
Phantom fighter aircraft on an attack mission against North Vietnamese supplies
and logistic vehicles 15 miles northwest of Quang Tri, South Vietnam. Hall and
Kientzler were under the direction of an OV10 Forward Air Controller (FAC).
CDR Hall's aircraft came under intense anti-aircraft fire while attacking
several trucks and was hit. He made an attempt to fly back out to the safety of
the sea, but minutes later the aircraft caught fire on the port wing and
fuselage.
Both Hall and his co-pilot, LCDR Philip A. Kintzler ejected at 4,000 feet and
were seen to land 100 feet apart near a village on an island in the Dam Cho Chua
and Cua Viet Rivers. CDR Hall was seen moving about on the ground, discarding
his parachute. No voice contact was made with the men, and the probability of
immediate capture was considered very high.
Numerous aircraft made several passes over the area for the next several hours
and were unsuccessful in observing either of the downed crewmen. Several
emergency beepers were heard intermittently the remainder of the afternoon and
throughout the night, however, no voice contact was established. Active,
organized search and rescue efforts were subsequently terminated.
Only Kientzler was released at Operation Homecoming in 1973. He reported that
during parachute descent they received heavy ground fire, at which time he was
hit in the leg. He last saw CDR Hall as they touched the ground. When he asked
his guards about his pilot, he was told that he was killed by another.
No other returned POW reported having knowledge of Harley Hall, yet the Pentagon
maintained him in POW status for over 6 years, and documents were obtained that
indicated that he was indeed captured. The Hanoi government claims to have no
knowledge of CDR Harley Hall. This former member of the famed Blue Angels flight
team remains missing.
Harley Hall was shot down on the last day of the war and was the last Navy air
casualty of the Vietnam War. He was the last American to be classified Prisoner
of War in the Vietnam War.
Harley H. Hall was promoted to the rank of Captain during the period he was
maintained as a prisoner.
[hhall.95 08/22/95]
DEFENSE INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20340
DIA EVALUATION OF INFORMATION PROVIDED BY THE
SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM IN THE CASE OF
COMMANDER HARLEY HALL, USN
On 13 July 1988, during a remains repatriation ceremony in Hanoi,
representatives of the Vietnamese Office For Seeking Missing Persons
(VNOSMP) furnished Joint Casualty Resolution Center (JCRC) officials with
six written investigative reports. In the case of Commander Harley H. Hall,
USN, the written report reiterates much of the information previously
furnished by the U.S. in the JCRC negotiation narrative. It goes on to claim
that a "team" as well as two "VNOSMP" specialists," visited the location
where the Navy officer was; lost, researched historical documents in the
villages and talked to "individuals directly related to this incident."
According to the report, "Commander Phillip" (LCDR Phillip Kientzler,
returnee) was captured; the other commander was found dead and buried in a
trench. The investigative team claims to have visited the grave site and
observed that it had been exhumed and the remains taken. The local populace
allegedly told the team that "from about 1981-1982 up until the present
time, many people from different areas came to rob the grave, a total of as
many as eight occasions, the most recent being February 1988 Because of
this, nothing is left in the grave site to be recovered. The local
authorities carried out an investigation concerning the grave robbery but
without results." The report concludes with the comment that the
investigative team is not able to recover the remains of this pilot.
While we have no information which would indicate that Commander Hall
survived to become a captive of the Vietnamese, the claims made by the
Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV) authorities regarding this incident
stretch credulity and totally contradict their known policies and practices
in handling remains of Americans based upon all-source intelligence
collection efforts over a period spanning more than two decades, we can
state with certainty that there is a centrally administered program which
Outlines strict procedures for handling the remains of Americans. Throughout
the war the Communist forces enforced a policy to find and bury Americans
killed in action, and captured enemy documents continually stressed that
this effort was important to the "political struggle." The procedures
required that a full written report on the incident be prepared, to include
a sketch of the burial location. When possible, photos of the Americans were
supposed to be taken, and all personal effects, documents, maps, etc. were
to be forwarded with the written report up the chain of command to Hanoi.
Americans were buried in marked graves in well defined (if primitive by U.S.
standards) cemeteries. Buried with them would be a paper which included the
American's name, date, place and cause of death. This procedure was also
followed in burying Vietnamese soldiers killed in battle.
Vietnamese public health laws require that remains be buried for at least
three years before they are exhumed (a common Vietnamese practice) and
reinterred in a final location. In the case of many Americans, after being
buried for three years or more, remains were probably prepared and stored in
a warehouse type situation.
In the specific instance of Commander Hall, if indeed he died at the time of
his loss incident, one must presume that the outlined procedures were
followed and he was not simply buried in a convenient nearby trench.
Further, the area area where he was lost was under the control of combat
troops at the time, which calls into question the Vietnamese claim that it
was necessary to review village historical documents (which probably do not
exist) and talk to villagers allegedly involved in the incident. Further,
had villagers been interviewed and local documents researched, the VNOSMP
representatives would have certainly discovered information on the two
Americans who were lost in this same area only minutes after Commander
Hall's aircraft was downed.
The claim that the grave was repeatedly robbed by "many people from
different areas," is highly implausible. In general, Vietnamese citizens are
highly superstitious about the dead and are not roaming the country robbing
graves. Further, as all personal effects would have been previously
forwarded to Hanoi, it should be well known to any would-be grave robbers
that there is nothing of monetary value in the grave.
Over the past several years numerous SRV actions and statements appear to be
aimed toward creating the illusion that they have difficulty accounting for
missing Americans because private citizens are recovering and trafficking in
remains. This is simply not the case.
In summary, the report furnished by the SRV is implausible and in direct
conflict with their known policies and practices. Based on the circumstances
of Commander Hall's loss we believe the communist government of Vietnam has
more information and for reason; known only to them has decided to concoct
this story instead.
TO: Department of Defense
From: Mary Louise Hall (Mrs. Harley Hall)
DATE: September 13,1993
RE: ALLEGED "ACCOUNTING" for "REMAINS" OF POW HARLEY H. HALL, USN
(3 FRONT TEETH)
QUALIFIED ACKNOWLEDGMENT UNDER PROTEST
FOR OBJECTIVITY AND TRUTH
Dear Sirs:
In response to the recent recovery of three of Capt. Harley Hall's front
teeth from the site of his downing and capture on 1 1/27/73 3 in Quang Tri
Province, I would like the following to go on record:
While I acknowledge these to be three of my husband's correctly identified
teeth (confirmed by a dental expert), I object most strenuously to the
inference that they constitute evidence of death, and I by no means
acknowledge or accept them as an accounting of the person of Harley H. Hall.
As such, they represent not only insufficient evidence for case closure, but
more importantly, BLATANTLY CONTRADICT ALL UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT
ASSERTIONS & INTELLIGENCE ON THE HARLEY H. HALL CASE. Specifically, various
U.S. Agencies have consistently maintained that he could NOT POSSIBLY have
died AT THAT SITE, i.e. Quang Tri, an inference drawn from multiple
references of captivity elsewhere.
Apart from the obvious fact that adults frequently lose teeth, which was
notorious among POWs the condition of the teeth, the fact that they are
front teeth, and especially the LOCATION of discovery all point to a more
obvious or plausible explanation. Namely, Capt. Hall was either punched,
received a blow to the mouth by his captors, these teeth were extracted, or
fell out due to malnutrition and poor care.
As to the location of his alleged 'death':
1. NAVAL INTELLIGENCE: Naval Intelligence informed me two weeks after his
downing that Harley had been captured - an absolute certainty based on first
hand sensitive intelligence. It was the U.S. Government itself that had the
information to change his status to Category I: Capture Confirmed (Early
documents sent to me under the Freedom of Information Act indicated all four
crewmen in Quang Tri incidents that day were captured. Capt. Hall remained
in Category 1 POW status for a full seven years (1973 - 80) until all such
cases except Charles Shelton, USAF, were altered to "PFOD (Presumptive
Finding Of Death)."
2. DR. ROGER SHIELDS: It soon became evident that Harley was not only
captured, but had arrived at a prison site of some sort. I was personally
told by POW/MIA expert Dr. Roger Shields that Harley's was "one of the
compelling, if not THE most compelling case of capture he had ever
reviewed." "They are holding your husband, Mrs. Hall, one way or another,"
(the inference clearly being 'dead or alive') "and they can answer for him
and never settle for anything LESS."
3. THE NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY: NSA files have subsequently revealed that
Capt. Hall was tracked from battalion to battalion to a particular PRISON
CAMP ON THE VIETNAMESE/LAO BORDER, hence NOT in Quang Tri Province.
4. DEFENSE INTELLIGENCE AGENCY REPORT: On 13 July, 1988, the DIA issued an
analysis of Vietnamese reports to General Vessey about an "unrecoverable
body" in the Quang Tri area which had fallen "into a trench." DIA analysis
countered that this "answer" was totally unacceptable, and that the SRV
report was a concoction "implausible and in conflict with their known
policies and practices ' regarding Americans.' The area was heavily
patrolled by North Vietnamese troops who would not have to resort to local
villagers to account for an American downed under their noses (See
Attached). Next, local "witnesses" began to tell of an American body,
allegedly Harley's "buried there,' but digging teams repeatedly found
nothing. But now the sudden turnover of three teeth from Quang Tri is
viewed as a "resolution," while in fact they in no way mitigate the U.S.
Government's previous objection to this story and insistence that Capt.
Hall could not have died there, let alone be buried in an unrecorded spot.
5. CLASSIFIED U.S. FILES: This summer I returned to Washington, D.C., to
review all pertinent files including classified material accessible to
families. This reinforced my previous conclusion and added the STUNNING NEW
REVELATION that Harley Hall had been INTERROGATED BY THE SOVIETS (which, I
hasten to point out, could not have happened had he "died" in the area where
his teeth were allegedly lost and recovered twenty years later!) This is in
startling contradiction to the U.S. Government's present bland acceptance of
his "death" in the Quang Tri area shortly after being shot down
6. REFUGEE STATEMENTS: I realize less credence is given to "hearsay" from
Vietnamese, but it is no secret that about the time of my husband's downing
and capture, there was frequent recounting of and bragging about "the
parading of a big Blue Angel" in Vietnam, possibly through Hanoi.
Cases of misidentification and case closing on insufficient evidence are not
new or unique to my husband's case, but all the above shows me is that the
United States Government's "highest national priority" in this area is to
shorten if not eliminate the missing list and close the book on as many
discrepancy cases as possible, even if it means a completely false burial of
hundreds of Americans - all to expunge the past, achieve e a hasty and
slipshod "accounting," and facilitate lucrative and politically expedient
relation with Hanoi.
As for the incredible statement that "we have no information which would
indicate Capt. Hall survived to become a captive of the Vietnamese, ' one
need only consider every other agency cited here, and Harley's official POW
status, to perceive a gross discrepancy and untruth.
Some cases are genuinely resolved. My close friend, Carleen Blackburn,
received almost full skeletal remains of her husband (notably with FOUR
FRONT TEETH MISSING). Other cases are not. and perhaps never can or will be
resolved. But the most unfortunate and painful of all are the FALSELY
RESOLVED CASES. Thus, after twenty years of almost unbearable limbo and
uncertainty, I may now face the worst possible case scenario: an eternal
limbo, still not knowing. The three teeth only reinforce the intelligence on
capture, while the U.S Government prepares to call the case "resolved" and
cease even trying to account. Such a FALSE ANSWER IS WORSE THAN NONE,
leaving me with less peace than before, not more!
I do not reject receiving the three teeth, nor will I take legal action
against their identification, because they are indeed Harley's teeth and
constitute all I have of my husband at the present moment. Had they been
presented in the spirit of further clues or evidence in Harley's case, and
not as an unwarranted "accounting" and resolution of ''death," I would even
welcome them as one small clue to the mystery of what happened to him in
captivity
Be assured that my protest does NOT stem from "wishful thinking," ' hoping
against hope," or reluctance or refusal to accept death as an
inevitable/probable outcome. For years, I have imagined, longed for and even
dreamed of the da,v when I could hold a proper memorial service for Harley
when his earthly remains could rest in U.S. soil. Then his children and I
could experience tbe peace of knowing, and begin to close the long chapter
of grief. But to grant burial with full military honors and a full size
coffin to three front teeth would not only be ridiculous, but represent
acquiescence in a lie.
Considering the above, I protest the closure of Harley's case in the
strongest possible terms, and implore you to leave his name on the honored
list of unaccounted for Americans, specifically of "focus" POW cases where
he was listed in the first place. (Otherwise, his name will wrongfully
appear on the "remains returned" list, and many thoughtful Americans will
assume that this notorious case is finally resolved/settled.) To do
otherwise on the basis of incomplete and misleading "remains" of three teeth
is a travesty and an affront to the truth, as well as yet another blow to
the families, who have fought so valiantly (and had their faith so badly
shaken) in this cause. This is the least you owe to the men who served and
those of us who have paid so high a price.
(signed)
Mary Louise Hall, Wife
Capt. Harley H. Hall USN
549-50-3460
NETWORK NOTE: As of March 1998, Capt. Harley Hall is still listed by the
United States Government as "remains returned."
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