WELSHAN, JOHN THOMAS

Name: John Thomas Welshan
Rank/Branch: O2/US Air Force
Unit: 604th Air Commando Squadron, Bien Hoa AB SV
Date of Birth: 05 February 1942
Home City of Record: Oak Ridge TN
Date of Loss: 03 March 1968
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 091858N 1053959E (WR732298)
Status (in 1973): Missing in Action
Category:4
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: A37A
Refno: 10709
Other Personnel in Incident: (none missing)

Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 15 May 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: Cessna's A37 "Dragonfly" was a two-seat light strike aircraft.
Although the B version was equipped for aerial refueling, the earlier A
model was restricted to its fully-armed range of about 450 miles. The easily
maintained jet was flown by both the U.S. and South Vietnamese Air Force,
and remained on station in Vietnam until the fall of Saigon in 1975.

1Lt. John T. Welshan was a pilot trained on the Dragonfly and attached to
the 604th Air Commando Squadron at Bien Hoa Airbase in South Vietnam. On
March 3, 1968, Welshan was assigned a frag mission in Bac Lieu Province,
South Vietnam.

(NOTE: Air Force accounts of Welshan's incident to not refer to a second
crew member. As this type aircraft is a two-seater, it is speculated that
the second crew member may have been Vietnamese. The U.S. does not normally
maintain any records on the identities of foreign nationals lost with U.S.
personnel in Southeast Asia.)

1Lt. Welshan's aircraft did not return from the mission at the appointed
time, and he was declared Missing in Action. His last location is listed as
being approximately 5 miles south of the city of Bac Lieu, near the
shoreline of South Vietnam.

1Lt. Welshan was maintained missing until July 15, 1975, at which time he
was administratively declared dead based on no specific information that he
was alive. He had been advanced to the rank of Major during the period he
was maintained missing.

Since the war ended, nearly 10,000 reports relating to Americans missing in
Southeast Asia have been received by the U.S. Many authorities who have
reviewed this largely classified information have reluctantly concluded that
there are still hundreds alive in captivity.

The United States Government, although involved in talks with the Vietnamese
since the end of the war, has been unable to bring home a single live
prisoner. The Vietnamese, on the other hand, refuse to let the issue die,
with the ultimate hope of normalizing relations with the west.

The Americans who are still alive have been reduced to bargaining pawns
between two nations. For their sakes, everything possible must be done to
bring them home. The sacrifice of Americans who died in Southeast Asia is
mocked by the abandonment of their comrades. For the sake of our future
fighting men and those who have given their lives in the defense of their
country, we must see to it that we never again abandon our soldiers to enemy
hands.

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