McCUISTION, MICHAEL K.
Name: Michael K. McCuistion
Rank/Branch: O3/US Air Force
Unit: Takhli Airbase, Thailand
Date of Birth:
Home City of Record: Lincoln NE
Date of Loss: 08 May 1967
Country of Loss: North Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 181100N 1054900E (WF863104)
Status (in 1973): Released POW
Category:
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: F105D
Refno:
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: 730308 RELSD BY DRV
SYNOPSIS: Capt. Michael K. McCuistion was flying a combat mission on May 8,
1967 in Ha Tinh Province, North Vietnam, about 10 miles southeast of the
city of Xom Hoai when his F105D Thunderchief was shot down and he was
captured.
When Capt. McCuistion was sent to Takhli Airbase in Thailand, his wife was
three months pregnant with their second child. After Capt. McCuistion was
shot down, it was three years before his wife received word of her husband.
In May 1970, she received two six-line letters from him in POW camp. The
U.S. Government promptly changed McCuistion's status from Missing in Action
to Prisoner of War. It was six more months before she heard from him again.
Jerry McCuistion was one of the lucky wives who knew their husbands were
alive. Others were not so fortunate. Jerry immediately went to work to help
better the treatment for the POWs held in Vietnam.
On March 3, 1973, after nearly 6 years in captivity, Capt. McCuistion was
released from Hanoi to rejoin his wife and son, and to meet the young
daughter whom he did not know.
When McCuistion and 590 other Americans were released, military experts
expressed their dismay that "hundreds" of Americans expected to be returned
were not. The Vietnamese denied any knowledge of them.
Since Mike McCuistion was released, believing as most POWs did, that when he
was released, all living POWs had been released, nearly 10,000 reports have
been received by the U.S. Government relating to Americans still missing in
Southeast Asia. Many authorities are convinced that hundreds remain alive.
Some speculate that there were a number of prison systems - and that only
one "system" was emptied of its prisoners in 1973.
As long as reports continue, other wives, mothers and children live in
suspense. They are unable to grieve, unable to go on with their lives, until
they know the fate of their loved one. Many, like Jerry McCuistion began the
fight over 20 years ago, but unlike lucky Jerry, they still fight.
It's time we brought our men home.
Michael McCuistion retired from the United States Air Force as a Lt.
Colonel. He and his wife Mari Lu reside in Texas.
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