KRUPA, FREDERICK

Name: Frederick Krupa
Rank/Branch: O3/US Army Special Forces
Unit: Exploitation Company A, Task Force 2 Advisory Element
Date of Birth: 02 September 1947
Home City of Record: Scranton PA
Date of Loss: 27 April 1971
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 141240N 1072555E (YA624721)
Status (in 1973): Missing In Action
Category: 4
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: UH1H
Refno: 1744

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.

Other Personnel In Incident: (none missing)

REMARKS:

SYNOPSIS: Capt. Frederick Krupa was a platoon leader assigned to Company A,
Task Force 2 Advisory Element, U.S. Army Special Forces. On April 27, 1971,
Krupa was a passenger aboard a UH1H helicopter with which his special
commando unit was about to conduct a helicopter insertion 2 miles from the
Laotian border northwest of Plei Djereng, Vietnam. When the helicopter was
three feet off the ground, hostile forces opened up fire, and Capt. Krupa
was seen to fall forward, wounded.

The SCU Company A commander Ayom grabbed Krupa's right shoulder, but when
his hand was struck by a bullet, Ayom let go, and Krupa fell from the
helicopter from a low level. He was last seen lying next to a log sprawled
out on his back, not moving or making a sound, by crew chief SP4 Melvin C.
Lew during helicopter ascent.

Whether Krupa was dead or unconscious is unknown. The opportunity to recover
him or his body never occurred because of hostile action in the area. He is
one of nearly 2500 Americans still missing, prisoner or otherwise
unaccounted for from the Vietnam war.

When the war ended, refugees from the communist-overrun countries of
Southeast Asia began to flood the world, bringing with them stories of live
GI's still in captivity in their homelands. Since 1975, over 8000 such
stories have been received. Many authorities believe that hundreds of
Americans are still held in the countries in Southeast Asia.

The U.S. Government operates on the "assumption" that one or more men are
being held, but that it cannot "prove" that this is the case, allowing
action to be taken. Meanwhile, low-level talks between the U.S. and Vietnam
proceed, yielding a few sets of remains when it seems politically expedient
to return them, but as yet, no living American has returned.

---

Use your Browser's BACK function to return to the PREVIOUS page

---