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My Adopted... POW MIA


Name: Joseph James Compa, Jr.

Rank/Branch: E6/US Army

Unit: 118th Aviation Company, 145th Aviation Battalion, 1st Aviation
Brigade

Date of Birth: 13 January 1931 (Beaver Falls PA)

Home City of Record: East Liverpool OH

Date of Loss: 10 June 1965

Country of Loss: South Vietnam


*

Loss Coordinates: 113521N 1065309E (YT056817)
Status (in 1973): Killed/Body Not Recovered
Category: 1
Acft/Vehicle/Ground: UH1B

*

Other Personnel In Incident:
*
Robert L. Curlee
*
Craig L. Hagen
*
Walter L.Hall
*
Bruce G. Johnson
*
Fred M. Owens
*
Donald R. Saegaert
*
(all missing)

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Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project (919/527-8079)
01 April 1991 from one or more of the following:
raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with
POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews.
Copyright 1991 Homecoming II Project.
REMARKS: J010 ON GND SED ALL DED - J

*

SYNOPSIS: On May 25, 1965, Special Forces Detachment A-342 was
airlanded at Dong Xoai, a district capital of Phuoc Long Province,
through which theViet Cong supply lifeline from Cambodia into War
Zone D tracked.
The SpecialForces Detachment, together with Navy Seabees, built a
camp and among other duties, assumed the MACV subsector role for
Don Luan district.

*

Intermittent Viet Cong mortar rounds lobbed into the new camp, and
were considered only the usual harassment, but sightings of large VC
formations nearing the town increased.

*

At 2310 hours on the night of June 9, CIDG teams around the camp's
perimeter were silenced by the 762nd and 763rd VC Regiments. There
was no opportunity to warn the camp, and only a few survived. At 2330,
the camp was heavily mortared, and came under a heavy ground assault.
The camp was overrun, and most of the CIDG and LLDB withdrew.

*

At the camp, 2Lt. Charles Q. Williams, seriously wounded, was directing
the defense of the compound with singular valor and would later be
awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his actions at Dong Xoai.

*

Before South Vietnamese relief forces could arrive, a team of advisors
was sent in from Than Son Nhut, where MACV was headquartered.
The team was aboard a UH1B helicopter from the 188th Aviation
Company flown by Lt. Walter L.Hall.
The crew consisted of Sgt. Craig L. Hagen, gunner; SSgt. Joseph J.
Compa, crew chief; and WO Donald Saegaert, co-pilot.
The advisors from MACV Special Detachment 5891 were SSgt.
Robert L. Curlee, the medic; and Capt. Bruce G. Johnson and SFC
FredM.Owens, advisors.

*

When the helicopter was disembarking troops on a plantation landing
zone, it came under heavy mortar and small arms fire.
The helicopter took off and started a climbing turn.
Upon clearing some buildings left of the landing zone, the helicopter
went into uncontrolled flight and in crashing, skidded into some parked
vehicles and burst into flames.

*

A circling pilot immediately established radio contact with Johnson, who
stated that he was standing by the downed helicopter, and that the crew
and other two advisors with him were dead.
He reported that the situation was very bad- not to send anyone else in.
Johnson stated that he was under heavy fire, and two mortar shells were
subsequently seen to land in his vicinity.

*

A subsequent search of the crash site was conducted when the area was
resecured (on June 15), but no American remains were found, nor was
Johnson seen.
Villagers in the area reported that an American had been captured on
that day, but no verifiable information has surfaced since that time.
Villagers also stated that the Viet Cong had carried away the bodies of 7
Americans and had buried them.

*

A captured Viet Cong film entitled "Dong Xoai in Flames" pictured the
bodies of five or six Americans as well as several crashed helicopters.
One of these helicopters bore the serial number 38557.
The name tag "Owens" and the last two letters of another name tag, "ll"
(possibly Hall's) are shown in the film, lending some more credence to
the report that the Viet Cong took
possession of the aircraft and that all aboard were killed.

*

There is no real reason to suspect that any of the seven men aboard the
UH1B shot down at Dong Xoai are, indeed, alive.
But there is no question that the communists know the fate of these
men.
All of these men can be easily accounted for.
It appears that Johnson, at least, may have been captured.

*

Mounting evidence indicates that Americans are still being held prisoner
in Southeast Asia today.
As long as even one American remains alive, held unjustly, we owe
him our best effort to bring him home.

* * *


I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to keep pushing this
issue inside the Beltway...
The need to get specific answers is more important now than ever
before.

* * *

If still alive, some MIAs are now in their 70s...They don't have much
time left. We have to demand the answers from the bureaucrats and
keep standing on their necks (figuratively speaking) until they get the
message that THEY work for US and that we are serious about getting
these long overdue responses.

* * *

Diplomatic considerations aside...
We can no longer allow questionable protocols established by
pseudo-aristocratic armchair strategists, to determine or influence the
fate of the men who were in the trenches while the diplomats were
sharing sherry and canapes and talking about "Their Plans" for the
future of SE Asia.

* * *

If you'd like to see what some others are doing in addition to writing
their congressmen, senators and the Whitehouse, check out some of
these sites: http://hawk.nji.com/~mred/mialist.htm

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