GREGORY, ROBERT RAYMOND
Remains Returned 02 March 1988, ID'd 09 June 1988

Name: Robert Raymond Gregory
Rank/Branch: O3/US Air Force
Unit: Udorn Airbase, Thailand
Date of Birth: 22 March 1932
Home City of Record: Cape Girardeau, MO
Date of Loss: 02 December 1966
Country of Loss: North Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 210124N 1055059E (XJ034923)
Status (in 1973): Prisoner of War
Category: 1
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: RF4C
Other Personnel in Incident: Leroy W. Stutz (released POW)

REMARKS: POSS DIC

SYNOPSIS: Robert Gregory was born to a poor family in Cape Girardeau, Missouri,
and had little time for the games of children. When "Greg" (or "Bobby") did act
more like a youth, his idea of fun was sometimes a bit ambitious for his
buddies.

"He liked to swim across the Mississippi River, rest and swim back," recalls a
neighbor. "He was sort of a modern-day Huckleberry Finn." Another friend
verifies the story and adds, "...he was kind of the leader of our group."
Gregory and a friend lied about their age to join the National Guard.

Despite lacking a college career behind him, Gregory ultimately achieved his
goal of becoming an Air Force officer. On leave in 1958, he eloped with
Marjorie Fisher, a 14-year old girl from a large family in Bell City, Missouri.
Marjorie followed Gregory to assignments in England and Germany. They had two
children, and, as Marjorie says, "We were a pretty happy family. We had a lot
of plans."

Gregory volunteered for Vietnam, and shipped out in July 1966. There, he was
based at Udorn Airfield, Thailand, assigned to fly a reconnaissance version of
the Phantom F4 fighter/bomber, the RF4C. It was in Vietnam that Gregory met his
backseater, Leroy W. Stutz, a native of Effingham, Kansas.

Stutz spent his boyhood years on a farm in northeast Kansas, and, following
high school, farmed with his brother-in-law for two years. Stutz joined the
Kansas National Guard, and attended Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas.
Stutz was subsequently appointed to the U.S. Air Force Academy, where "Elroot"
graduated in 1964. After flight training and reconnaissance photo training,
Stutz was promoted to First Lieutenant and shipped to Vietnam.

On December 2, 1966, Gregory and Stutz were assigned a 55 minute photo
reconnaissance mission over Hanoi, North Vietnam. During a pass over their
target, their aircraft was hit, and the two ejected as their aircraft crashed
in the outskirts of Hanoi. After landing, the two established voice contact
with each other, and both were captured.

Stutz and Gregory were reunited the same day, but Stutz found that his pilot
was seriously injured and bleeding badly. Both men were transported to the Hoa
Lo detention facility ("Hanoi Hilton") in Hanoi in the same truck and arrived
on the same day they were shot down. Stutz never saw Gregory again.

Stutz' wife Karen and their young son waited for his return. Marjorie and her
son and daughter also waited. The Air Force showed Marjorie blurred, blown-up
photos they thought was her husband in captivity.

In March 1973, LeRoy Stutz was released from Hanoi, one of almost 600 Americans
who were freed at the time. Military experts expressed their dismay that
"hundreds" thought to be prisoners were not released, and were named on no list
provided by the Vietnamese. Reports soon began to flow into the U.S.
intelligence community relating to these men. A significant number of them
indicated that Americans could still be alive in captivity.

Marjorie did the best she could with her life and her children. She never gave
up hope that one day, her "doorbell would ring one of these days. He wouldn't
mark me off if I were missing."

In 1987, Robert Gregory's photo and story was published in Life Magazine. By
then, Gregory had been promoted to Lieutenant Colonel. The Kansas City Times
ran an extensive article on Gregory and his family in late November 1987. In
both articles, Gregory was identified as a captive by his back-seater.

Just over 3 months later, the Vietnamese "discovered" the remains of LtCol.
Robert R. Gregory and returned them to U.S. control. The pain that Marjorie and
her children had experienced for 22 years could finally be laid to rest with
her husband. But the questions will never end. They may never how - or when -
he died.

The Stutz family had a joyful homecoming. The Gregory family's homecoming was
quite different. Over 2000 other families still wait for word of their loved
one, haunted by the still-flowing reports that Americans are still alive in
captivity in Southeast Asia.


(Robert R. Gregory was buried at Cape County Memorial Park attended by an honor
guard from the Roth-Gregory Air Force ROTC unit from Southeast Missouri State
University, which had been named in his honor and that of a World War II pilot.
A Missing Man formation was flown by four RF4C fighter jets.)


(LeRoy William Stutz graduated from the United States Air Force Academy in
1964.)


Prepared by Homecoming II Project 01 December 1989

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