O'LAUGHLIN, STEPHEN M.

Name: Stephen M. O'Laughlin
Rank/Branch: Civilian
Unit: Merchant Marine, SS Express Baltimore
Date of Birth: 26 March 1943
Home City of Record: Selma AL
Date of Loss: 25 December 1965
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 160400N 1081300E (CR081220)
Status (in 1973): Missing In Action
Category: 3
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: Ground

Other Personnel In Incident: Ruben C. Bailon (missing)

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:

SYNOPSIS: Ruben Bailon was a Merchant Marine seaman aboard the ship SS Express
Baltimore. On Christmas Day, he and the second officer, Stephen O'Laughlin went
to the harbor town of Qui Nhon, South Vietnam, to arrange for a flight to Saigon
to find and assist the return of the ship's captain, who had been sick. They
stayed in a cheap hotel.

The hotel owner reported seeing the two in the hotel bar the next day, but
neither boarded their planes that day. They simply disappeared. The two had
about $300 between them.

On May 26, 1968, a Vietnamese being interrogated in Binh Dinh Province
identified O'Laughlin's photo, stating he had seen Steve and two other American
POWs in a Viet Cong jungle camp near Da Nang, where he himself had been held
several months. The Vietnamese stated he saw Steve last in early May 1968,
before his own escape. Steve's family was not notified of the report until 1972.

A rallier later identified Bailon's photograph as a prisoner he had seen. CIA
analysis could find no reason for the identification as no other U.S. POWs had
reported being held with Bailon or O'Laughlin.

In June 1973, remains were recovered from a grave in Phu Yen Province, which
were identified in December 1976 as those of Stephen O'Laughlin. It is reported
that he was captured in a Saigon hospital. No one is looking for Steve any
longer.

Ruben Bailon is among nearly 2400 Americans who remain missing. Thousands of
reports have convinced experts that many are still alive, held captive. Bailon
is one of scores of civilians who disappeared. He could be alive. If so, what
must he be thinking of his country? Why don't we bring these men home?


Stephen M. O'Laughlin's name is not engraved on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in
Washington D.C.

