AMSPACHER, WILLIAM HARRY JR.
Remains returned July 1988, Identified November 1988

Name: William Harry Amspacher, Jr.
Rank/Branch: E4/US Navy Reserves
Unit: Early Warning Squadron 13, USS MIDWAY
Date of Birth: 26 July 1944 (Hollywood, CA)
Home City of Record: Canoga Park CA
Date of Loss: 02 June 1965
Country of Loss: North Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 194258N 1055058E (WG920815)
Status (in 1973): Killed/Body Not Recovered
Category: 2
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: EA1F

Other Personnel In Incident: Thomas L. Plants (missing); M.D. McMican; Gerald
M. Romano (remains returned); David M. Christian (on an A4E, see text); John B.
McKamey (on a second A4E, released POW).

Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 30 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.

REMARKS: CRASHED AND BURNED

SYNOPSIS: On June 2, 1965, an EA1F "Spad" electronics aircraft launched from the
USS MIDWAY for assistance in a search and rescue mission over North Vietnam. The
crew of the Spad was LTJG M.D. McMican, pilot; LTJG Gerald M. Romano, navigation
officer; Petty Officer Third Class William H. Amspacher, Electronic
Countermeasures Operator, and ATN 3 Thomas L. Plants.

While circling the scene of an [unnamed] A4E pilot's ejection over the South
China Sea, the Spad was hit by enemy fire and was observed to crash land and
burn on the nearby coast. While still over the water, a crewmember was seen to
bail out, but his parachute did not open, and he fell into the sea. A week
later, the body drifted ashore, according to an intelligence report. This body
was not recovered by U.S. forces at that time.

[NOTE: The loss location given by Defense Department is not over the South China
Sea, but some five miles inland, in Nghe An Province, near the city of Sam Son.
At best, if the loss occurred over water, it occurred in the Gulf of Tonkin.]

The crew of the Spad was placed into the category Killed In Action/Body Not
Recovered. It was assumed the three perished in the crash of the plane and the
fourth (unspecified in the report) perished just prior to the crash in his
unsuccessful ejection attempt.

On June 2, 1965, two Navy A4E aircraft were shot down in the general area that
the EA1F rescue aircraft was circling. One of them was flown off the USS MIDWAY
by LTJG David M. Christian, and is most likely to be the subject of the search
by the Spad because the accounts seem to match. Navy accounts do not specify the
identity of the downed pilot, nor do they indicate if he was ever rescued.

David Christian was born in California, and in the early 1960's his family moved
to Kansas. Three years later, they moved back to California, but David stayed to
attend Kansas State University, then Emporia State University, where he
graduated after majoring in sociology and psychology. David learned to fly jets
in the Navy after college. In Vietnam, he was stationed aboard the USS MIDWAY
and was an A4E attack jet pilot. On June 2, 1965, Christian left the carrier on
a mission over the Tonkin Gulf on the shoreline of North Vietnam. His commander
witnessed his plane going down at sea, with David possibly ejecting. No
emergency radio beeper signals were heard, and the pilot was not seen after he
left the aircraft.

On October 11, 1965, a Pravda article referred to Christian and James Stockdale,
who was shot down and captured in the same area as Christian three months later.
The report gave the Christian family hope that David survived and would be
released.

When Christian did not return in the prisoner release in 1973, the Christians
were shocked and hurt. James Stockdale was released and was awarded the
Congressional Medal of Honor for his actions as a POW. Over the years, the
Christian family has written and called CDR Stockdale to ask about the report,
but he has never replied.

The second A4E lost on June 1, 1965 was flown by LT John B. McKamey. His
aircraft was shot down some fifty miles south of the crash location of the EA1F.
McKamey was captured by the North Vietnamese and held prisoner for the next
eight years. He was released in Operation Homecoming on February 12, 1973.

In 1986, the Vietnamese returned the remains of 21 American servicemen lost in
Vietnam, including those said to be those of David Christian. They could not
forget the Pravda article and its details about David. They had the remains
independently examined. The conclusion was that the probability is greater that
it IS David Christian than it is not. But still, there is no proof that David
died and doubts remain. Until there is proof that he died, David's friends and
family "would not be at all surprised" to see him come home -- alive.

In July 1988, the Vietnamese returned remains they stated were those of 25
American servicemen. Three of the remains were positively identified as being
those of Amspacher, McMican and Romano. Plants' remains were not recovered. It
is not known if the body which was reported washed ashore could have been
Plants' or that of David Christian.

A Vietnamese defector stated in Congressional testimony that Vietnam stockpiles
hundreds of sets of remains. Congress believed him. He also testified that
Vietnam holds live American prisoners. Congress says he is lying, although over
10,000 reports help substantiate that Americans are being held alive. The U.S.
and Vietnamese "progress" at a snail's pace, while totally ignoring the
tremendous weight of evidence that their priority should be those Amercans still
alive as captives. Meanwhile, thousands of lives are spent in the most tortured
state imaginable - unable to grieve, unable to rejoice. They wait.

