REEDER, WILLIAM SPENCER JR.
Name: William Spencer Reeder, Jr.
Rank/Branch: O3/US Army
Unit: 361st Aerial Weapons Company
Date of Birth:
Home City of Record: Lake Arrowhead CA
Date of Loss: 09 May 1972
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 144110N 1074001E (YB872252)
Status (in 1973): Released POW
Category:
Acft/Vehicle/Ground: AH1G
Refno: 1847
Other Personnel in Incident: John Timothy "Tim" Conry, KIA, body recovered,
pilot
Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 01 April 1991 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 with information from Col. Reeder.
REMARKS: 730327 RELSE BY PRG
SYNOPSIS: The Bell Aircraft AH1 Huey Cobra came into being as a result of a
crash program initiated by the U.S. Army when the Vietnam War revealed the
need for a fast, well-armed helicopter to provide escort and fire support
for the CH47A Chinook. From initial orders in April 1966, the Army stores
grew to 838 AH1Gs by the Spring of 1968. The "Cobra" had greater speed,
better armor, and better armaments than its predecessor and demonstrated
well their ability to attack accurately enemy positions (and even kill enemy
tanks), and to absorb punishment.
Capt. William S. "Bill" Reeder Jr. was onboard an AH1G on a combat mission
in South Vietnam on May 9, 1972. The precise nature of the mission is not
known, but during the mission, the helicopter was shot down and Reeder was
taken prisoner by the Vietnamese. His location at the time of capture was in
Kontum Province, South Vietnam, near the border of Laos, Cambodia and
Vietnam.
As far as the U.S. Army was concerned, Reeder was Missing in Action. It had
no information regarding his capture until he was released the following
March.
In February 1974, after 591 Americans had been released from prison camps in
Vietnam in the spring of 1973, released ARVN POWs reported and identified
Melvin Finch, an Army Captain who has been missing since March 30, 1972, and
returnee Reeder, as two U.S. Army captains they had been held with before
the two Americans were moved north.
Nearly 2500 Americans remain missing or otherwise unaccounted for in Vietnam.
Since the war ended, over 10,000 reports concerning missing Americans in
Southeast Asia have been received by the U.S. Government. Many experts are
completely convinced that hundreds of Americans are still held captive.
One set of critics say that the U.S. has done little to address the issue of
live POWs, preferring the politically safer issue of remains return. Others
place the blame on the Vietnamese, for using the issue of POW/MIA to their
political advantage. Regardless of blame, no living American has returned
through the efforts of negotiations between the countries, and the reports
continue to pour in. Are we doing enough to bring these men home?
SOURCE: WE CAME HOME copyright 1977
Captain and Mrs. Frederic A Wyatt (USNR Ret), Barbara Powers Wyatt, Editor
P.O.W. Publications, 10250 Moorpark St., Toluca Lake, CA 91602
Text is reproduced as found in the original publication (including date and
spelling errors).
WILLIAM S. REEDER
Captain - United States Army
Shot Down: May 9, 1972
Released: March 27, 1973
I enlisted in the Army in 1965 and graduated from Artillery Officer Candidate
School in August 1966. After serving one year in the Fifth Mechanized Infantry
Division, I entered fixed-wing flight training. I left for Viet Nam in October
1968. On March 1, 1969, I was shot down but managed to outrun the enemy
soldiers and was rescued after one very long hour on the ground.
In February 1970 I began study at the University of Nebraska in Omaha under
the army's degree completion program. I received my degree in June 1971 and
went to helicopter qualification training. As a platoon commander, my second
tour of duty began in December 1971. I was a pilot of a Cobra helicopter
gunship, flying support for South Vietnamese forces when I was shot down. My
front seater, First Lieutenant John T. "Tim" Conry, a fine officer and a good
friend, died from injuries received in the crash.
I managed to avoid capture for three days, but soon they heard me and five
North Vietnamese soldiers surrounded me. My back was broken and I had one
crushed vertebra. I shrank about one inch during my eleven months in
captivity.
The interrogator tied me to a tree and questioned me for three hours, slapping
me around a little. However, even though the interrogating continued for three
days, I refused to sign statements that I had dropped gases, firebombs, or
germs.
We hiked through the jungle for three days. I was forced to carry a rucksack
full of uncooked rice. With my broken back and a wound in my ankle, this was
very painful.
We came to my first POW camp in Northern Cambodia. I was placed in a 12 x 40
by 4 1/2 foot cage of bamboo with 25 South Vietnamese prisoners. I was the
only American. The prisoners were all piled up. They had a wooden stock
through the center of the cage into which they put our feet at night and
closed it.
After two weeks I was moved to a cage with one other American and four
Vietnamese. It was 5 1/2 by 10 feet. Shortly thereafter we began our walk to
North Viet Nam, 200 miles up and down mountains. The other American died en
route. My ankle became so infected, even my knee was twice its size from the
spreading infection. They told me they would have to amputate, but I asked
that they try penicillin, even though I had previously been very allergic to
it. For some reason the adverse reaction to the drug never occurred, and by
the time I reached Hanoi, the wound was almost healed.
I have been simply overwhelmed by every aspect of my return. It has been the
most wonderful experience of my life. I have a brave and patriotic wife, Amy,
and two fine children, Spencer, aged six, and Vicki, two.
Through my experiences I have developed a greater love for my country and an
appreciation of our freedoms. After seeing a Communist society first hand, I
am further dedicated to preserving the principles of democracy established on
this continent by the American Revolution. I would like to thank my friends
and neighbors and all Americans for their concern and support and my
government for bringing me home with my head held high.
William Reeder Jr. retired from the United States Army as a Colonel. He and
his wife Melanie reside in Kansas. He is currently pursuing his Doctorate.
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