ATTENTION ALL WEBSURFERS!!!

On 22 November 1969, Lt. Cmdr. Richard F. Collins, pilot; and Lt. Michael E. Quinn, bombardier/navigator; comprised the crew of an A6A Intruder that launched from the deck of the USS Ranger as the lead aircraft in a flight of two. Their flight was to conduct a night road reconnaissance mission against targets of opportunity along the border between South Vietnam and Laos. During the flight into the target area, the two Intruders were forced to separate due to a navigation instrument problem with the #2 aircraft.


The flight's area of operation was considered to contain major arteries of the infamous Ho Chi Minh Trail. When North Vietnam began to increase its military strength in South Vietnam, NVA and Viet Cong troops again intruded on neutral Laos for sanctuary, as the Viet Minh had done during the war with the French some years before. This border road was used by the Communists to transport weapons, supplies and troops from North Vietnam into South Vietnam, and was frequently no more than a path cut through the jungle covered mountains. US forces used all assets available to them to stop this flow of men and supplies from moving south into the war zone.

Approximately 5 minutes into the flight, Lt. Cmdr. Collins' wingman reported that he was at checkpoint "A," a designated location used to keep tract of each other. Both aircraft proceeded to the operational area and began their mission. At 2240 hours and five to six minutes after beginning his reconnaissance run, the wingman saw a billowing explosion on the ground and radioed the lead aircraft, but received no response from either crewman. After the wingman completed his attacks on enemy ground targets, he returned to the ship while other aircraft initiated search and rescue (SAR) efforts. The last known location placed the downed aircraft approximately 3 miles east of Ban Taling and 16 miles south of Muang Xepon, Savannakhet Province, Laos.

SAR operations were hampered by the darkness and the lack of a specific loss location in the rugged jungle covered mountains of eastern Laos. There was no voice contact established with either downed crewman and no emergency beepers heard by the SAR forces. Likewise, no parachutes were seen and no other form of visual sighting made. At the time the formal search effort was terminated, both Cmdr. Collins and Lt. Quinn were listed Missing in Action.

Richard Collins and Michael Quinn are among nearly 600 Americans who disappeared in Laos. The Lao admitted holding "tens of tens" of American Prisoners of War, but these men were never negotiated for either by direct negotiation between our countries or the Paris Peace Accords since Laos was not a party to that agreement.

Since the end of the Vietnam War, over 21,000 reports of American prisoners, missing and otherwise unaccounted for have been received by our government. Many of these reports document LIVE American Prisoners of War remaining captive throughout Southeast Asia TODAY.

Pilots and aircrews in Vietnam and Laos were called upon to fly under many dangerous circumstances, and they were prepared to be wounded, killed or captured. It probably never occurred to them that they could be abandoned by the country they so proudly served.

Could have LT Michael E. Quinn, and LCDR Richard F. Collins been shot down by this SA-2 Guidline Missile used extensively in Vietnam or other AAA (Anti-Aircraft Artillery)????

Please click on picture to take you to a site on the Russian made Surface to Air Missiles like this one and AAA (Anti-Aircraft Artillery) that were used in Vietnam, and in use today.

I WILL NOT GIVE UP ON THIS ISSUE UNTIL ALL MY ADOPTED SERVICEMEN ARE HOME.

Whether the location was ever concealed, or "covered up" by corrupt politicians, the use of the phrase"inland from the coast of South Vietnam" is certainly misleading since the aircraft was seeking"targets of opportunity" on the infamous Ho Chi Minh Trail in the Savannakhet Province, Laos.

If you would like to write to families of these missing servicemen, the only way I know is to go to this website, and follow the directions on the website.

When you write the letters to the families, please make sure that you address it in reference to the missing serviceperson's family.

This is how I got in touch with Mrs. Lucy Sennett.
She is the wife of one of my missing servicemen Robert R. Sennett.
I can only imagine what these families like Mrs. Lucy Sennett have been through of not knowing.
This must be hell on earth for them.

Please, let's make their lives easier by taking the torch for them and finding out what happened to their family member, and not accepting anything but the truth, and not subjecting ourselves to the "Presumptive Finding of Death" finding.
As a person of this cause, I can honestly say, that those families expect nothing less. Let's NOT ACCEPT anything less.