LEONOR, LEONARDO CAPISTRANO

Name: Leonardo Capistrano Leonor
Rank/Branch: O3/US Air Force
Unit: 523rd Tactical Fighter Squadron, Udorn AF TH
Date of Birth: 22 September 1940
Home City of Record: Astoria NY
Date of Loss: 10 October 1972
Country of Loss: North Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 174800N 1064000E (XE541685)
Status (in 1973): Missing in Action
Category: 4
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: F4E
Refno: 1936
Other Personnel in Incident: Peter M. Cleary (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 Phantom, used by Air Force, Marine and Navy air wings, served a
multitude of functions including fighter-bomber and interceptor, photo and
electronic surveillance. The two man aircraft was extremely fast (Mach 2), and
had a long range (900 - 2300 miles, depending on stores and mission type). The
F4 was also extremely maneuverable and handled well at low and high altitudes.
The F4 was selected for a number of state-of-the-art electronics conversions,
which improved radar intercept and computer bombing capabilities enormously.
Most pilots considered it one of the "hottest" planes around.

Capt. Peter A. Cleary and Capt. Leonardo C. Leonor were pilots attached to the
523rd Tactical Fighter Squadron at Udorn Airfield, Thailand. The aircraft they
flew on the combat missions they were assigned was the F4E, an electronic
version of the Phantom.

On October 10, 1972, Cleary was the pilot and Leonor the navigator onboard their
F4E when it was assigned a mission over North Vietnam. The aircraft did not
return to friendly control, and the crew was declared missing at the time of
estimated fuel exhaustion. Their last known location was on the coastline of
North Vietnam at Quang Binh Province, about 5 miles south of the city of Ron.

Cleary and Leonor were maintained missing in action for the next seven years. At
that time, their status was administratively changed by the Department of the
Air Force to killed in action, based on no specific evidence that they were
alive.

When the last American troops left Southeast Asia in 1975, some 2500 Americans
were unaccounted for. Reports received by the U.S. Government since that time
build a strong case for belief that hundreds of these "unaccounted for"
Americans are still alive and in captivity.

"Unaccounted for" is a term that should apply to numbers, not men. Nearly 600
men were left behind in Laos, and our government did not negotiate their
release. We, as a nation, owe these men our best effort to find them and bring
them home. Until the fates of men like Cleary and Leonor are known, their
families will wonder if they are dead or alive - and why they were deserted.

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