CASE SYNOPSIS: JAKOVAC, JOHN ANDREW
REMAINS RETURNED 02/97

Name: John Andrew Jakovac
Rank/Branch: E5/US Army
Unit: HHC, 3rd Brigade Task Force, 25th Infantry Division (see note in text)
Date of Birth: 10 April 1947 (Ontanogan MI)
Home City of Record: Detroit MI
Loss Date: 31 May 1967
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 145215N 1085242E (BS718450)
Status (in 1973): Missing in Action
Category: 2
Acft/Vehicle/Ground: Ground
Refno: 0715

Other Personnel In Incident: Joseph E. Fitzgerald; Brian K. McGar (both
missing)

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 May 31, 1967, PFC Brian K. McGar, PFC Joseph E. Fitzgerald,
riflemen; Sgt. John A. Jakovac, ammo bearer; Cpl. Charles G. Rogerson, and
SP4 Carl D. Flowers were members of a Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol
(LRRP) deployed in Quang Ngai Province, South Vietnam.

The LRRP unit was inserted to move to the base of Hill 310 and to check out
an area long a hedge row where several Viet Cong had been seen and fired
upon by gunships earlier that day. Then, at night, the patrol was to move to
the top of Hill 310 to establish an observation point. Early that afternoon,
a report was received that the patrol had established a position and
reported everything was normal.

At 2030 hours, the patrol reported that they were going to proceed to the
top of the hill to establish the observation point as briefed. Radio contact
with the patrol was lost after that, as the patrol failed to made a
scheduled report at 2145 hours.

On the morning of June 1, search elements began sweeping the area. During
the search, bodies of Rogerson and Flowers were discovered in fresh graves.
The search element also found an extended NAK-47, 5.56 and 7.62 millimeter
brass as well as hand grenade fragments. Blood trails were discovered
leading from the area. Searches conducted from June 2 through July 12 proved
unsuccessful.

There is very good reason to believe the communist government of Vietnam
knows what happened to these young men, but as yet, no word has surfaced on
them. They are among 2500 Americans who did not come home from the war in
Vietnam. As evidence continues to mount that hundreds of Americans are still
captive in Southeast Asia, the Fitzgerald, McGar and Jakovac families must
wonder if their sons are among those said to be still alive, and wonder why
they were abandoned by the country they loved.

NOTE: In April 1967 elements of the 196th Infantry Brigade, the 1st Brigade,
101st Airborne Division, and the 3rd Brigade, 25th Infantry Division were
selected to form a provisional division-sized unit called Task Force OREGON
and then moved to the I Corps Tactical Zone where it operated in Quang Ngai
and the southern part of Quang Tin Provinces. When OREGON was replaced by
23rd Infantry Division (AMERICAL) 25 September 1967, only the 196th remained
in its descendant division. The other units were returned.

While U.S. Army records place Fitzgerald, Jakovac and McGar in 3rd Brigade,
25th Infantry Division, this unit was operating in the other end of the
country. The three therefore, must have been among the element chosen to
comprise Task Force OREGON.

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