Hosted by PJs in Vietnam
Last Update: Friday, July 18, 2008

Site Mission: Provide Pararescue and Air Rescue History

Why am I not listed on this site or in the book PJs in Vietnam?

  One of the most frequent questions I receive is, “Why am I not listed on this site or in the book?” The answer is that everyone listed is first verified from a primary source document or from others who have already been verified. If you find your names on the list of those who have served; then, your name and mission is in the book. It could be in either a story about a mission or in an attached appendix. The appendix will be a list of all known missions, who flew them, who was rescued, where they occurred, and the date of the mission.

  The master list of those who served is maintained in a database I developed that tracks missions flown in SEA. The database information was extracted from official unit histories and mission reports. The fields in the database include date of shoot down, date rescued, location shoot down, type SAR aircraft, unit conducting the rescue, pilots name, co-pilots name, flight engineers name, PJ names, survivor names and some other fields that are not relevent to this discussion. To date I have collected over 1100 mission reports.

  How come my name is not listed? The next issue likely to come up is that you know that you flew missions and you are not listed. If that is the case, I do not have a mission report to extract your name from. That could be caused by one of three factors:

1.            No mission report of your activities is in the archives at the Air Force Historical Research Agency (AFHRA).

2.            Your mission report is still classified CONFIDENTIAL or higher for some reason or the other.

  If number 1 applies to your situation, than you should understand that I could not write about something or someone that I have no knowledge of. The solution to this problem is to provide me the information. I can only include names/missions that can be documented from primary sources. Primary sources include medal citations, news articles, letters from the period, diaries, etc. So, if you are not listed mail me your primary source material and I will add you to the database. Information can be emailed to rlapointe@gci.net

If number 2 is the case than there is nothing I can do to get the information from the Air Force. If you have some type primary source document in your possession than I can use that to include you in the book. Once again you will have to mail me copies. Information can be emailed to rlapointe@gci.net

           Now is your opportunity to see who is in this book. I have broken the lists down into the following groups: Pilots, Co-Pilots, Flight Engineers, PJ’s, Survivors, and Others To ease your browsing, each list is alphabetized.

We few, we happy few, we band of brothers

For he today that sheds his blood with me

Shall be my brother. Be he ne'er so vile,

this day shall gentle his condition

And gentlemen in England now abed

Shall think themselves accursed that they were not here.
And hold their manhood's cheap whiles any speaks 
That fought with us ...

These men, who flew as teammates, are brothers!

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