Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Honolulu Advertiser
October 22, 2007 By Advertiser Staff
The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office at Hickam Air Force Base announced last week that the remains of a U.S. serviceman, missing from the Vietnam War, have been identified and returned to his family for burial with full military honors.
Maj. Robert G. Lapham, U.S. Air Force, of Marshall, Mich., was buried Friday in Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C.
On Feb. 8, 1968, Lapham was flying the lead A-1G Skyraider in a flight of two in Quang Tri Province, Vietnam. The aircraft were alerted to join an airborne forward air controller to destroy enemy tanks that had overrun the Lang Vei Special Forces Camp. After completing one pass on the tanks, Lapham was nearing his target on the second pass when he crashed.
Between 1993 and 1998, joint U.S./Socialist Republic of Vietnam teams, led by the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, traveled to Quang Tri Province two times to investigate the incident and interview witnesses. One team also surveyed the crash site and found aircraft wreckage.
In 2003, another joint team investigated the incident and resurveyed the crash site. The team found more wreckage and pilot-related evidence, including Lapham's identification tag.
Between 2004 and 2006, Hawai'i-based JPAC teams traveled to Quang Tri Province four times to excavate the crash site. The teams recovered human remains, aircraft wreckage and pilot-related items.
October 22, 2007 By Advertiser Staff
The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office at Hickam Air Force Base announced last week that the remains of a U.S. serviceman, missing from the Vietnam War, have been identified and returned to his family for burial with full military honors.
Maj. Robert G. Lapham, U.S. Air Force, of Marshall, Mich., was buried Friday in Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C.
On Feb. 8, 1968, Lapham was flying the lead A-1G Skyraider in a flight of two in Quang Tri Province, Vietnam. The aircraft were alerted to join an airborne forward air controller to destroy enemy tanks that had overrun the Lang Vei Special Forces Camp. After completing one pass on the tanks, Lapham was nearing his target on the second pass when he crashed.
Between 1993 and 1998, joint U.S./Socialist Republic of Vietnam teams, led by the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, traveled to Quang Tri Province two times to investigate the incident and interview witnesses. One team also surveyed the crash site and found aircraft wreckage.
In 2003, another joint team investigated the incident and resurveyed the crash site. The team found more wreckage and pilot-related evidence, including Lapham's identification tag.
Between 2004 and 2006, Hawai'i-based JPAC teams traveled to Quang Tri Province four times to excavate the crash site. The teams recovered human remains, aircraft wreckage and pilot-related items.