On February 3, 1966, a C123C
Provider aircraft with a crew of four,
including its pilot, Capt.
Wilbur R. Brown, and crewmembers James L. Carter, SGT Edward
M. Parsley and SGT Therman M. Waller, was assigned a mission
on the border of Laos and South Vietnam about 10 miles
southwest of Khe Sanh.
During the mission, radio contact was lost with the Provider
and its
whereabouts or those of the
crew were never determined.
In
April 1969, a rallier identified a number of photographs of
missing
Americans as men he believed
to have been captured. Wilbur Brown was among those the
rallier selected. CIA questioned the identification as no
returned POWs reported having seen any of the Provider crew in
POW camps. It should be noted, however, that it is now widely
believed that more than one prison system existed in Vietnam,
and that prisoners in one were not mingled with prisoners from
another. (Also, given the location of the crash, the
possibility exists that the crew, if captured, may have been
taken by Pathet Lao forces. No Americans were ever released
that were held in Laos.)
The
mission flown by the C123 lost on February 3, 1966 is not
indicated in public records. It is known that "Candlestick"
missions, dispensing flares to illuminate targets for fighters
or tactical bombers, was very effective against truck traffic
in Laos, except in those areas where anti-aircraft defenses
became too formidable. It it possible that the C123C might
been on a "Candlestick" mission.
Brown, Carter, Parsley and Waller were declared Missing In
Action by
the U.S. Air Force. They are
among nearly 2400 Americans who are unaccounted for from the
Vietnam war. Experts believe there are hundreds of these men
still alive today, waiting for their country to come for them.
Whether the missing men from the Provider lost on February 3,
1966 are among those still alive is not know. What is certain,
however, is that the U.S. has a moral and legal obligation to
do everything possible to bring home those who are alive.
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Record: Wilmington NC
