KERR, JOHN CREIGHTON GILLE

Name: John Creighton Gille Kerr
Rank/Branch: O3/US Air Force
Unit: (unknown, per USAF)
Date of Birth: 16 March 1932
Home City of Record: Miami FL
Date of Loss: 22 August 1967
Country of Loss: Laos
Loss Coordinates: 193830N 1033345E (UG490720)
Status (in 1973): Killed/Body Not Recovered
Category: 2
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: A26A

Other Personnel in Incident: Burke H. Morgan (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.

REMARKS:

SYNOPSIS: The Douglas A26 was a twin-engine attack bomber with World War II
service. In Vietnam, it served the French in the 1950's and also the U.S. in the
early years of American involvement in Southeast Asia. In 1966, eight A26's were
deployed to Nakhon Phanom to perform hunter-killer missions against truck
convoys in southern Laos.

Maj. John C.G. Kerr was the pilot and Capt. Burke H. Morgan the navigator of an
A26A aircraft assigned a mission over the Plain of Jars region of Laos on August
22, 1967. The Plain of Jars had long been controlled by the communist Pathet Lao
and a continual effort had been made by the secret CIA-directed force of some
30,000 indigenous tribesmen to strengthen anti-communist strongholds there. The
U.S. committed millions of dollars to the secret war in Laos. Details of this
secret operation were not released until August 1971.

During the mission radar and radio contact was lost with Kerr and Morgan, and
they were declared missing at the time of estimated fuel exhaustion. About four
years later, unspecified evidence was received by the Department of the Air
Force that both men died at the time of the incident. They were at that time
declared Killed in Action.

Because Laos was "neutral" and because the U.S. continued to state they were not
at war with Laos (although we were regularly bombing North Vietnamese traffic
along the border and conducted assaults against communist strongholds thoughout
the country at the behest of the anti-communist government of Laos), and the
U.S. did not recognize the Pathet Lao as a government entity, the nearly 600
Americans lost in Laos were never recovered.

The Pathet Lao stated that they would release the "tens of tens" of American
prisoners they held only from Laos. At war's end, no American held in Laos was
released - or negotiated for.

Mounting evidence indicates that hundreds of Americans are still alive in
captivity in Southeast Asia. They proudly served their country and deserve
better than abandonment.

Burke H. Morgan was promoted to the rank of Major during the period he was
maintained missing.

