YOUNG, CHARLES LUTHER

Name: Charles Luther Young
Rank/Branch: E3/US Army
Unit: Company D, 2nd Battalion, 27th Infantry, 25th Infantry Division
Date of Birth: 04 April 1946
Home City of Record: New York, NY
Date of Loss: 17 May 1968
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 105514N 1063940E (XT814076)
Status (in 1973): Missing in Action
Category: 2
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: Boat
Refno: 1178
Other Personnel in Incident: (none missing)

Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 01 September 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: On May 17, 1968, PFC Charles L. Young was serving as a rifleman on
a combat patrol in the Gia Dinh area of South Vietnam. At 1700 hours that
day, Young's squad departed their base in three assault boats to set up a
night ambush. Young was riding in the first boat with six other members of
the squad and one engineer/boat operator.

An hour or two later, the three boats were ambushed and the first boat was
hit by enemy small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs). All
onboard the boat were rescued except Young, who was not found.

Searches the following day failed to yield any trace of Young. Because there
was a chance Young had survived and been captured, he was not declared dead,
but Missing in Action. It is believed that the Vietnamese could account for
him.

Nearly 2500 Americans were lost in Southeast Asia during our miltary
involvement there. Since the war in Southeast Asia ended in 1973, thousands
of reports relating to Americans prisoner, missing or unaccounted for have
been received by the U.S. Government. The official policy is that no
conclusive proof has been obtained that is current enough to act upon.
Detractors of this policy say conclusive proof is in hand, but that the
willingness or ability to rescue these prisoners does not exist.

Young, if one of those hundreds said to be still alive and in captivity,
must be wondering if and when his country will return for him. In America,
we say that life is precious, but isn't the life of even one American worth
the effort of recovery? When the next war comes, and it is our sons lost,
will we then care enough to do everything we can to bring our prisoners
home?

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