LANE, GLEN OLIVER
Name: Glen Oliver Lane
Rank/Branch: E7/US Army Special Forces
Unit: Command & Control, MACV-SOG, 5th Special Forces Group
Date of Birth: 24 July 1931 (Diboll TX)
Home City of Record: Odessa TX
Date of Loss: 23 May 1968
Country of Loss: Laos
Loss Coordinates:161730N 1070600E (YD258028)
Status (in 1973): Missing In Action
Category: 4
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: ground
Refno: 1191
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: Robert D. Owen (missing)
REMARKS:
SYNOPSIS: Glen Lane was the patrol leader of a spike team under orders to
MACV-SOG in Vietnam. MACV-SOG, or Military Assistance Command Vietnam
Studies and Observation Group, was a joint service high command
unconventional warfare task force engaged in highly classified operations
throughout Southeast Asia. The 5th Special Forces channeled personnel into
MACV-SOG (though it was not a Special Forces group) through Special
Operations Augmentation (SOA), which provided their "cover" while under
secret orders to MACV-SOG. These teams performed deep penetration missions
of strategic reconnaissance and interdiction which were called, depending on
the time frame, "Shining Brass" or "Prairie Fire" missions.
On May 20, 1968, SFC Glen Lane and SSgt. Robert D. Owens were the only two
U.S. members of the 6-man spike team "Idaho" assigned to infiltrate a denied
area across the Lao border west of A Loui.
The team was inserted into the area by helicopter, and was heard from only
once thereafter by a Forward Air Controller (FAC) about 1024 hours the same
day. All further contact with the patrol was lost. The spike team "Oregon"
was inserted into the same landing zone, and after finding a trail, searched
about 50 meters from the area and noticed signs of a fire fight.
At that time, "Oregon" was attacked by an estimated company-sized enemy
force and was extracted after suffering one killed and seven wounded. There
was no further ground search for Owen or Lane. The 12 man team believed that
the two had been either captured or killed.
When American POWs were released in 1973, Lane and Owen were not among them.
Indeed, the agreements which ended the war in Southeast Asia did not include
provision for the men held prisoner in Laos. No treaty has been struck since
that time for them. Nearly 600 remain missing in Laos.
Since the end of the war, thousands of reports have been received that
indicate Americans were left behind in Southeast Asia and remain there,
captive, today. Lane and Owen could be among them. It's time we brought our
men home.
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