sister, or friend would you want them to be forgotten?
Below is the information on a POW I have adopted, incidently, he was also a friend. My husband was also an F105 pilot in Vietnam. We were stationed at Yokota AFB with Pete and his wife. I was with her when she got the news. Conflicting reports came in from the guys flying with them when they went down, but we knew he was lost.
If it had been my husband, my children's father, I'd want him - or his remains - accounted for, and I know Pete's family does too.
Name: Peter Potter Pitman
Date of Birth: 15 February 1938
SYNOPSIS: Capt. Peter P. Pitman and Maj. Robert A. Stewart comprised the two-man crew on an F105F Thunderchief fighter bomber aircraft that was shot down in North Vietnam on May 12, 1967. [Both men are coded as pilots, so it is not possible to determine who was actually the pilot on this mission.] The last
known location of the plane and crew is very near the city of Ron in Quang Binh Province, North Vietnam. Both men were listed by the Air Force as missing in action. The Vietnamese deny any knowledge of their fates.
An excellent description of the capability of the F105 and its pilots is found in "Vietnam Voices". A flight of F105s is described by British Consul-General John Colvin in Hanoi, 1967. "As we stood there, seven or eight United States F105 Thunderchief fighter bombers, flying at scarcely more than roof-top height and no more, it seemed, than 100 yards away, shot across our vision at what appeared - so tight was the space in which the whole incident was framed between houses and sky - enormous speed. They had come on us suddenly out of nowhere,
the hard, gray, sleek aircraft, in superb formation at approximately 600 mph... As they had hurtled past us, so close it seemed we could almost touch them or call to the pilots, we had seen the rockets fired from the pods under their wings. Almost simultaneously, such lights as were on in the apartment went out, the fan stopped turning, and a column of dust, smoke and flame rose from the direction of the power station.. (leaving) ..fists.. shaken at the sky (and)
little groups of civilians whispering. (The planes had penetrated the city's defenses by coming in under radar, and the first antiaircraft batteries opened up not only after the raiders were about 20 miles away.)
Pitman and Stewart were skilled pilots, and dedicated to their jobs. It is not known if they survived or died. The Vietnamese probably know what happened to them, but they are not saying. Since the end of the war, the U.S. has received thousands of reports of Americans alive in the hands of the Vietnamese. Peter
Pitman and Robert Stewart could be among them. It's time we brought them home.
Peter P. Pitman was promoted to the rank of Major and Robert A. Stewart to the rank of Colonel during the period they were maintained missing.
Peter Pitman was married and had a small son when he disappeared.
Rank/Branch: O3/US Air Force
Home City of Record: Atlanta GA
Date of Loss: 12 May 1967
Country of Loss: North Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 175200N 1062600E (WF440269)
Status (in 1973): Missing In Action
Category: 4
Acft/Vehicle/Ground: F105F
Other Personnel In Incident: Robert A. Stewart (missing)
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, interviews.
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