NEWBURN, LARRY STEPHEN

Name: Larry Stephen Newburn
Rank/Branch: E3/US Army
Unit: Company E, 4th Battalion, 39th Infantry, 9th Infantry Division
Date of Birth: 15 September 1947
Home City of Record: Kokomo IN
Date of Loss: 29 August 1967
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 104536N 1065419E (YS083900)
Status (in 1973): Killed/Body Not Recovered
Category: 3
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: Raft
Refno: 0818
Other Personnel in Incident: (none missing)

Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 15 June 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: PFC Larry S. Newburn was a rifleman in Company E, 4th Battalion,
39th Infantry, 9th Infantry Division in South Vietnam. On August 29, 1967,
his unit was crossing a stream about five miles east of the city of Di An
when the raft Newburn was holding tipped over. PFC Newburn and another man
were not able to swim ashore. Search efforts began immediately, and the body
of the other man was discovered two days later, but no sign of Newburn was
found.

Searches continued for several days, and the help of the local Province
Chief was enlisted. Newburn or his body were not located. He was listed
Killed, Body Not Recovered (KIA/BNR).

Newburn's is one of the unfortunate accidental deaths that occur wherever
people are. The fact that he died an accidental death in the midst of war is
tragically ironic. He is listed among the missing with honor, because his
body was never found to be returned to the country he served.

Others who are missing do not have such clear cut cases. Some were known to
be captives; some were photographed as they were led by their guards. Some
were in radio contact with search teams, while others simply disappeared.

Since the war ended, over 250,000 interviews have been conducted with those
who claim to know about Americans still alive in Southeast Asia, and several
million documents have been studied. U.S. Government experts cannot seem to
agree whether Americans are still held captive in Southeast Asia.
Distractors say it would be far too politically difficult to bring the men
they believe to be alive home, and the U.S. is content to negotiate for
remains.

Over 10,000 reports relating to Americans prisoner, missing, or unaccounted
for in Southeast Asia had been received by 1990. Many of them are still
classified. If, as the U.S. seems to believe, the men are all dead, why the
secrecy after so many years? If the men are alive, why are they not home?

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