LAWRENCE, GREGORY PAUL
Name: Gregory Paul Lawrence
Rank/Branch: E4/US Air Force
Unit: 37th Air Rescue/Recovery Squadron, Da Nang AB SV
Date of Birth: 10 March 1938
Home City of Record: Phenix AL
Date of Loss: 05 October 1968
Country of Loss: Laos
Loss Coordinates: 155357N 1072258E (YC592700)
Status (in 1973): Killed/Body Not Recovered
Category: 2
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: HH3E
Refno: 1298
Other Personnel in Incident: Albert D. Wester (missing)
Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 01 April 1990 with the assistance
of 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 1999 with information from his
daughter.
REMARKS:
SYNOPSIS: Maj. Albert D. Wester was a copilot of an HH3E "Jolly Green Giant"
helicopter dispatched on a recovery mission on the border of South Vietnam
and Laos on October 5, 1968. The Jolly Green normally carried a crew of
four, and could carry up to 30 passengers, but the only other crew member
whose name is part of public record is Sgt. Gregory P. Lawrence.
At a point about due west of Da Nang in Laos, on the border of Quang Nam
Province in South Vietnam and Savannakhet Province in Laos, Maj. Wester's
aircraft was hit by hostile fire and crashed. Both Wester and Lawrence
sustained fatal injuries from the subsequent crash, fire and explosion. It
is assumed, but not known, that the rest of the crew was either rescued or
recovered dead.
Wester and Lawrence are among a number of Americans who were listed as
Killed in Action, Body Not Recovered. They are counted among the missing
because their remains were never recovered for an honorable burial at home.
For their families, there can be some assurance that they died in the
service of their country.
The cases of many of the missing, however, are much more complex. Among
those missing, a substantial number were known to have been alive when last
seen. Some were even photographed in captivity, only to disappear.
Since the end of the war, the U.S. has engaged in tentative "talks" with the
countries of Southeast Asia, primarily Vietnam, which has resulted in the
return of several hundred sets of American remains. In Laos, where Wester
and Lawrence still lie, the U.S. has excavated aircraft crash sites with
varying degrees of success in recovery of American remains.
Critics of U.S. policy in dealing with the POW/MIA issue point to the nearly
10,000 reports received since the war ended relating to Americans missing in
Southeast Asia. Many authorities who have examined these reports have come
to the reluctant conclusion that hundreds of Americans are still alive in
captivity today.
Unfortunately, progress has been particularly slow in Laos. The U.S. never
negotiated for the release of the "tens of tens" of Americans the Pathet Lao
stated they held during the war. Consequently, even those Americans known to
have been captured by the Lao were never released. The U.S. has been unable
to secure the freedom of even a single captive American since the war, even
though reports of sightings continue to pour in. Surely there is a
reasonable solution to bringing these men home. They willingly served us
when they were called to do so. What are we doing to keep the faith with
them?
----------------------
From - Tue Jul 13 1999
I have a webpage in honor of my dad.
http://members.aol.com/lilweb669/index.html
If you would please take a look at it and at the family picture pages I
think you might learn just a littel bit more about my dad.
He was consider an old man while stationed with the 37th ARRS at the age of
30 years old. He voluntered to go to war. I didn't learn much about my dad
until about a year ago (after I had outlived him by a year) when I started
my search to learn more about the man he was, the man in the picture on the
Wall I called daddy. I have learned from vets that were his buddies in
Danang that he loved to build model airplanes and spent most of his free
time working on them. He didn't drink or smoke and never left the base to go
party with the others. He was trusted by everyone he flew with and was
always there for them when they needed to talk. His job in rescue was as the
Flight Engineer (door gunner) and he enjoyed it completely. His love for his
country and for flying is why he went to Nam. He was always smiling and a
very happy man (even in Nam he was happy). I have been told that I am a lot
like my dad as far as my personality and I have his smile, hearing the vets
that I have met tell me makes me feel closer to my dad. I was 2 yrs old when
he died and have no memories of him.
He met my mom while he was in the Army stationed at Ft.Benning, Ga. and they
married in 1964. They had 3 children together, two daughters and a son. My
brother was born while dad was in Nam and they never had the chance to see
one another. When his time was up in the Army he got out and shortly after
that enlisted in the AF.
The Joint Task Force has located the crash site and plan on excavating it in
2002 (not holding my breath for that). They only found the wreackage. Maybe
one day they will find what might be left of my dad and send him home to be
buried at home, where he belongs.
Thank you for your time.
Debbie Webster
PDO, Sgt.Gregory Paul Lawrence, KIA/BNR Oct. 5,1968, USAF
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