STEADMAN, JAMES EUGENE
Name: James Eugene Steadman
Rank/Branch: O3/US Air Force
Unit: 497th Tactical Fighter Squadron, Ubon Airfield, Thailand
Date of Birth: 18 February 1945
Home City of Record: Ft. Collins CO
Date of Loss: 26 November 1971
Country of Loss: Laos
Loss Coordinates: 162000N 1045800E (WC015965)
Status (in 1973): Missing In Action
Category: 3
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: F4D
Refno: 1781
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: Robert D. Beutel (missing)
REMARKS:
SYNOPSIS: 1Lt. Robert D. Beutel flew backseater for Capt. James E. Steadman
on an F4D Phantom jet assigned to the 497th TFS at Ubon, Thailand. On
November 26, 1971, the two were flying a mission out of Thailand and over
Laos. Just inside Laos, in Savannakhet Province, their plane disappeared. No
one knew for sure if it was hit, or had mechanical trouble - it just
vanished. No remains or wreckage of the plane was ever found.
Bob Beutel and Jim Steadman were declared Missing in Action. The Air Force
maintained them in that classification for 7 years, and then declared them
dead, because there was "no evidence" to believe they were alive. There was
also no evidence that the two were dead.
Bob Beutel was packed for R & R in Australia after being overseas for 6
months. He was on his last flight before his departure. Jim Steadman, a
young officer from the Air Force Academy left a wife of only a short
duration to wonder what happened to him.
Beutel and Steadman are among nearly 600 Americans who disappeared in Laos
during the war with Vietnam. Although the Pathet Lao stated on several
occasions that they held "tens of tens" of American prisoners, not a single
man held in Laos was ever released - or negotiated for.
Thousands of reports have been received which cause experts to believe that
hundreds of Americans are still alive in captivity. Even the most skeptical
believe a number of prisoners may be held in Laos today. What must these
men, who willingly went to serve their country, be thinking of us? It's time
we brought them home.
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