GOULD, FRANK ALTON

Name: Frank Alton Gould
Rank/Branch: O4/US Air Force
Unit: 72nd Strat Wing, Guam
Date of Birth: 22 May 1933
Home City of Record: New York NY
Date of Loss: 21 December 1972
Country of Loss: Laos
Loss Coordinates: 194400N 1035900E (UH950020)
Status (in 1973): Missing in Action
Category: 2
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: B52D

Other Personnel in Incident: Vincent Russo; James Farmer; Deverl Johnson (two
other crewmen); all rescued.

Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 15 October 1990 from one or more of
the following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with
POW/MIA families, published sources including "Linebacker" by Karl J. Eschmann.

REMARKS:

SYNOPSIS: Frustrated by problems in negotiating a peace settlement, and
pressured by a Congress and public wanting an immediate end to American
involvement in Vietnam, President Nixon ordered the most concentrated air
offensive of the war, known as Linebacker II, in December 1972. During the
offensive, sometimes called the "Christmas bombings," 40,000 tons of bombs were
dropped, primarily over military targets in the area between Hanoi and Haiphong.
White House Press Secretary Ronald Ziegler said that the bombing would end only
when all U.S. POWs were released and an internationally recognized cease-fire
was in force.

The Christmas Bombings were of the most precise the world had seen. Pilots
involved in the immense series of strikes generally agree that the strikes
against anti-aircraft and strategic targets was so successful that the U.S.
"could have taken the entire country of Vietnam by inserting an average Boy
Scout troop in Hanoi and marching it southward."

The operation had its costs, however, in loss of aircraft and personnel. During
the month of December 1972, 62 crewmembers of B52 aircraft were shot down and
captured or went missing. Of these 62, 33 men were released in 1973. The remains
of roughly a dozen more have been returned over the years, and the rest are
still missing. At least 10 those missing survived to eject safely. Yet they did
not return at the end of the war.

December 21, 1972, on the third day of bombing, Waves One and Two proceeded with
their bombing missions. During Wave Two, due to the losses suffered by G-models
over Hanoi, the 6 B52Gs assigned to strike the rail yards were recalled by
SAC. Wave Three consisted 12 B52G and 9 B52D aircraft from Guam and 18 B52Ds from
Utapao. The Guam B52Ds were targeted against the Hanoi rail yards that had been
bypassed by Wave Two.

The Straw B52 cell flew into its mission at 34,000 feet, transiting the densest
air defense in the world with Soviet SA-2 missiles poised for their flight path.
Straw 02, the fifth aircraft in, took a hit about two seconds into its
post-target run from a missile fired, most probably, by SAM site VN-549. Straw
cell was engaged by up to 18 SAMs during the bomb run. The pilot had just
started a 45 degree banked turn when everything went black inside the fuselage.

The aircraft had fire in two engines and no electrical power. Because the crew
could not transfer fuel from one side of the plane to the other, as fuel ran out
in one tank, the bomber began losing its center of gravity. Severely damaged,
Straw 02 managed to keep airborne for thirty minutes as it flew towards Laos,
whereupon the pilot called for bailout.

At 15,000 feet, the pilot, Capt. Russo, exited the plane and watched as the
aircraft turned into a fireball as it impacted a hillside. After landing in a
tree, Russo waited 20 minutes for first light before lowering himself to the
ground. After a few minutes, he used his survival radio to transmit a Mayday
call. An F4 crew responded, telling him help was on the way. An SAR A7
eventually located him, after which a rescue HH53 arrived and hoisted him to
safety. All the remaining crew was rescued in the same manner except for Maj.
Frank A. Gould, the radar navigator, who was injured during the SAM explosion
and was not observed in a parachute.

SAR forces could not obtain any reading of a survivor beeper, and after an
initial search, it was determined that Gould had probably gone down with the
aircraft. In 1981 a U.S. satellite photographed a jungle clearing in this
isolated part of Laos. The photograph showed that someone had stamped the number
"52" in the elephant grass, in numerals three feet wide and fifteen feet long.
It is believed possible that Gould had in fact successfully ejected but may have
had a defective locator. If this is true, he was tragically missed during the
rescue attempt.

Gould is one of nearly 600 Americans who were lost in Laos. Although the Pathet
Lao stated they held "tens of tens" of Americans, no negotiations were held to
secure their release. As a result, not one American held in Laos was ever
released.

Since the end of the war, thousands of reports have been received by the U.S.
Government relating to Americans still alive in captivity. U.S. experts have
stated they believe Americans are still being held prisoner in Southeast Asia.
The question is no longer whether any are alive, but who are they, and how can
we bring them home?




