As the flight crossed the coastline, Capt. Fullerton had his wingman placed in a one to two0mile trail position 2000 feet above him. Three to four minutes
after crossing the coastline, Capt. Fullerton spotted a series of lights on the ground and assessed them to be trucks. He then called to his wingman saying that he was going to make a bomb run. The wingman saw two bombs detonate and then observed an orange-red fire ball close to the bomb hits, which he presumed
was a secondary explosion. The second explosion threw flaming debris high in the air.
The wingman made his bomb run and made his first radio call to form-up on Capt. Fullerton. There was no contact returned by Capt. Fullerton, and the air controller aircraft in the area was contact to aid in making contact. Although an IFF radio mode III squawk was heard, the radar return faded at 20 miles before a positive identification could be made, and no confirmed contact was ever made with Capt. Fullerton, and he was declared Missing in Action.
Upon review of the information available, it was considered that Capt. Fullerton either misjudged his bombing run altitude and impacted the ground after his bomb release (in which case he probably went down with the aircraft), or the IFF squawk was made by Capt. Fullerton. No solid information was ever
received to determine exactly what happened to Capt. Frank E. Fullerton.
Fullerton was not among the prisoners of war that were released in 1973. High ranking U.S. officials admit their dismay that "hundreds" of suspected American prisoners of war did not return.
Alarmingly, evidence continues to mount that Americans were left as prisoners in Southeast Asia and continue to be held today. Unlike "MIAs" from other wars, most of the nearly 2500 men and women who remain missing in Southeast Asia can be accounted for. Fullerton could be one of them. Isn't it time we brought our
men home? |
Get it at GeoCities
