Walter Harrison Sigafoos III Rank/Branch: O2/US Air Force Date of Birth: 29 August 1946 Home City of Record: Richboro PA Date of Loss: 25 April 1971 Country of Loss: Laos Loss Coordinates: 153700N 1065700E (YC090273) Status (in 1973): Missing In Action Category: 2 Acft/Vehicle/Ground: F4D

Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project (919/527-8079) 01 April 1991 from one or more of the following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews.
Copyright 1991 Homecoming II Project.

REMARKS:

SYNOPSIS: The Phantom, used by Air Force, Marine and Navy air wings, served a multitude of functions including fighter-bomber and interceptor, photo and electronic surveillance. The two man aircraft was extremely fast (Mach 2), and had a long range (900 - 2300 miles, depending on stores and mission type). The F4 was also extremely maneuverable and handled well at low and high altitudes. Most pilots considered it one of the "hottest" planes around.

Capt. Jeffrey C. Lemon was the pilot and 1Lt. Walter H. Sigafoos III the weapons/systems officer of an F4D fighter jet sent on a combat mission over Laos on april 25, 1971. During the mission, the aircraft was shot down about 15 miles northeast of the city of Ban Phone in Saravane Province. Both crewmen were declared missing in action.

In 1973, the prisoners of war held in Vietnam were released. Laos was not part of the Paris agreement which ended American involvement in Indochina and no prisoners held by the Lao were ever released. Nearly 600 Americans were left behind, forgotten and abandoned by the country they proudly served.

In 1975, refugees fled Southeast Asia and brought with them stories of Americans prisoner, missing and unaccounted for in Southeast Asia. The reports continued to flow in as the years passed. By 1990, over 10,000 reports had been received. Some sources have passed multiple polygraph tests, but the U.S. Government still insists that proof is not available.

Meanwhile, the Lao voice dismay about the large numbers of their people that were killed and the fact that much of their once beautiful homeland now is cratered like the moon from bombs dropped by American planes. They seem to want acknowledgement that, in bombing enemy sanctuaries in Laos, we also did great harm to the Lao people.

We are haunted by the secret war we conducted in Laos through the lives of the Americans we left behind. Some of them are still alive. What must they be thinking of us?

Jeffrey Lemon was promoted to the rank of Major and Walter Sigafoos to the rank of Captain during the period they were maintained missing.

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