John Quincy Adam - Kansas Vietnam POW/MIA

Rank/Branch: E3/USAF Unit: 41st Tactical Airlift Squadron, Ubon Airbase, Thailand Date of Birth: 22 December 1947    Home City of Record: Bethel KS Date of Loss: 22 May 1968                Country of Loss: Laos Loss Coordinates: 162000N 1063000E (XC843858) Status (in 1973): Missing In Action Category: 4 Acft/Vehicle/Ground: C130A Refno: 1187 Other Personnel in Incident: Jerry L. Chambers; Calvin C. Glover; Thomas E. Knebel; William H. Mason;  William T. McPhail; Thomas B. Mitchell; Gary Pate; Melvin D. Rash (all missing)

REMARKS: CONTACT LOST – NFI Source: Compiled from one or more of the following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews. Updated by the P.O.W. NETWORK in 1998. SYNOPSIS: The Lockheed C130 Hercules aircraft was a multi-purpose propeller driven aircraft, and was used as transport, tanker, gunship, drone controller, airborne battlefield command and control center, weather recon- naissance craft, electronic reconnaissance platform; search, rescue and recovery craft. In the hands of the "trash haulers", as the crews of Tactical Air Command transports styled themselves, the C130 proved the most valuable airlift instrument in the Southeast Asia conflict, so valuable that Gen. William Momyer, 7th Air Force commander, refused for a time to let them land at Khe Sanh where the airstrip was under fire from NVA troops surrounding that base. Just following the Marine Corps operation Pegasus/Lam Son 207 in mid-April 1968, to relieve the siege of Khe Sanh, Operation Scotland II began in the Khe Sanh area, more or less as a continuation of this support effort. The C130 was critical in resupplying this area, and when the C130 couldn't land, dropped its payload by means of parachute drop.One of the bases from which the C130 flew was Ubon, located in northeast Thailand. C130 crews from this base crossed Laos to their objective location. One such crew was comprised of LtCol. William H. Mason and Capt. Thomas B. Mitchell, pilots; Capt. William T. McPhail, Maj. Jerry L. Chambers, SA Gary Pate, SSgt. Calvin C. Glover, AM1 Melvin D. Rash, and AM1 John Q. Adam, crew members. On May 22, 1968, this crew departed Ubon on an operational mission in a C130A carrying one passenger - AM1 Thomas E. Knebel. Radio contact was lost while the aircraft was over Savannakhet Province, Laos near the city of Muong Nong, (suggesting that its target area may have been near the DMZ - Khe Sanh). When the aircraft did not return to friendly control, the crew was declared Missing In Action from the time of estimated fuel exhaustion. There was no further word of the aircraft or its crew. The nine members of the crew are among nearly 600 Americans who disappeared in Laos. Many are known to have been alive on the ground following their shoot downs. Although the Pathet Lao publicly stated on several occasions that they held "tens of tens" of American prisoners, not one American held in Laos has ever been released. Laos did not participate in the Paris Peace accords ending American involvment in the war in 1973, and no treaty has ever been signed that would free the Americans held in Laos, and not one of them has returned home. John Q. Adam could still be alive. He isn't aware that his home town of Bethel has lost its identity, having been incorporated into a growing Kansas City, Kansas, but there can be no doubt that he knows he has been abandoned by the country he proudly served. The following is a copy of John’s name, as it appears, etched on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington D.C.

Location Of John's Name On The Wall Panel 65E - - Line 6

Symbols Names of those killed in action (KIA) are indicated by a diamond symbol following their name; those missing in action (MIA) with a plus sign (+). MIAs are denoted with an asterisk in the printed Directory of Names, an alphabetical listing for visitors who want to locate names on the Wall. Status changes from MIA to KIA are accomplished by superimposing a diamond onto the plus sign. If one looks closely, the ends of the MIA (+) symbol can be seen to the sides of the diamond so future generations will know the history behind the names of MIA service members whose remains were eventually located. A circle will be inscribed around a cross if ever a service member who was legitimately a prisoner of war (POW) or MIA returns. No such cases have occurred though some men have been found to be alive with their names on the Wall due to clerical error. To put a circle around their names would not give a correct historical context to the symbols. These names are and have been removed from periodic revisions of the printed Directory of Names.

The music on this page "Free Bird"  is dedicated to John Q. Adam and a friend of mine and my sisters, Steve Frazier, who was a Vietnam Veteran, that died recently. This was his favorite song, and we played it at his funeral and remembered. NEW 7/4/04 - I have received one of John's original Bracelets that was sent to us by Elizabeth Michailoff. She got his bracelet when she was a Captain at Offutt AFB. She has tried to locate his family to return it to but was unsuccessfull in finding them. It will be at our Post, so if any of his family sees this and would like to have it, please contact me.

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If you find a problem on this page, please e-mail me. Just click on my name below. Last updated 7/04/04.          Tanya