The Cessna O2 was a stopgap replacement aircraft for the O1 until the North American OV10 arrived in Vietnam. The Air Force operated 346 of the aircraft. The A model flown by Duckett and Skinner served the function of marking
targets with marking rockets. It was a small, poorly armored aircraft which normally flew unarmed.
While the aircraft was over Savannakhet Province, Laos, about 6 miles east southeast of the city of Sepone, it was shot down. After the aircraft crashed, radio contact was made with 1Lt. Duckett. The limited information available publicly does not reveal whether Skinner also survived the crash of the aircraft, nor does it indicate that any efforts were made to recover the crew. Family members report, however, that the following day, search aircraft located the aircraft intact on the ground in a small clearing. There was no sign of fire damage to the aircraft, and parachutes were seen in the area of the crash. For
the following two days electronic emergency radio beepers were head, but could never be pinpointed as they were shifting frequently. Hostile ground fire and activity prevented a ground search. Both men were declared Missing in Action.
Perhaps because the war in Laos was "secret", little information was available to the families of Skinner and Duckett regarding their crash and fates. Most of the information was classified and unavailable to them. Like many POW/MIA families, they resorted to filing numerous requests of Government agencies
through the Freedom of Information Act. One such classified report received by the Duckett family described an American prisoner fitting Duckett's description who was identified in Laos in February 1974.
Like Duckett and Skinner, many Americans downed in Laos were known to be alive after the crash of their aircraft, or when they were last seen on the ground. In all, there are nearly 600 Americans lost in Laos. Even though the Pathet Lao stated they held "tens of tens" of American prisoners, they maintained that,
after the war, they would be released only from Laos.
The U.S. Government, in negotiating the end of American involvement in the second Indochina War, did not negotiate with the communist Pathet Lao, a governmental faction they did not officially recognize. As a result, not one of the nearly 600 Americans lost in Laos was ever released.
Intelligence and refugee reports from the region continue to mount that there are still Americans in captivity in Southeast Asia. Americans who fought for their country. Americans who should be home. If there is only ONE remaining, we owe him our very best efforts to bring him home.
Thomas A. Duckett was promoted to the rank of Major and Owen G. Skinner to the rank of Colonel during the period they were maintained Missing in Action. |
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