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Other Personnel Involved: Lance P. Sijan
Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 15 October 1990 from one or more of the following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews. Updated by the P.O.W. NETWORK.
Lt. Col. John W. Armstrong was the pilot and squadron commander flying out of Danang and 1Lt. Lance P. Sijan was the back seater (WSO) "wizzo" weapons systems officer sent on a mission over Laos on November 9, 1967. (Although our sources report that 1Lt. Lance P. Sijan was the pilot and LtCol. John W. Armstrong the bombardier/navigator of an F4C Phantom fighter/bomber, John Armstrong's son, Thomas, reports this is wrong and sent me their correct designations as listed above.)
Sijan and Armstrong were flying low over the "Ho Chi Minh Trail" when, at approximately 9 p.m., the aircraft was hit by a surface-to-air missile (SAM) and crashed. The two went down near the famed Mu Gia Pass, a pass in the mountainous border region of Laos and Vietnam. It was not until nearly six years later that it was learned what happened to Sijan and Armstrong. They were classified Missing in Action.
Sijan evaded capture for nearly 6 weeks. During this time, he was seriously injured and suffered from shock and extreme weight loss due to lack of food.
The extremely rugged terrain was sometimes almost impassable, but Sijan continued to try to reach friendly forces.
After being captured by North Vietnamese forces, Sijan was taken to a holding point for subsequent transfer to a POW camp. In his emaciated and crippled condition, he overpowered one of his guards and crawled into the jungle, only to be recaptured after several hours. He was then transferred to another prison camp where he was kept in solitary confinement and interrogated at length.
During the interrogation he was severely tortured, yet did not reveal information to his captors.
Sijan lapsed into delirium and was placed in the care of another American POW. During intermittent periods of consciousness, he never complained of his physical condition, and kept talking about escaping. He was barely alive, yet continued to fight.
During the period he was cared for, he also told the story of his shootdown and evasion to other Americans. After their release, his incredible story was told in "Into the Mouth of the Cat," an account written by Malcolm McConnell from stories brought back by returning American POWs.
Sijan related to fellow POWs that the aircraft had climbed to approximately 10,000 feet after being struck. Sijan bailed out, but was unable to see what happened to LTC Armstrong because of the darkness.
In 1977, a Pathet Lao defector, who claimed to have been a prison camp guard, stated he had been guarding several Americans. According to his report, one was named "Armstrong." There are only two Armstrongs listed as MIA. There is little question that the other Armstrong died at the time of his crash. The Defense Intelligence Agency places no validity in this report.
Sijan was finally removed from the care of other POWs and they were told he was being taken to a hospital. They never saw him again. His remains were returned on March 13, 1974.
In the early 1980's, LtCol. James "Bo" Gritz conducted a number of missions into Laos attempting to obtain positive proof of live POWs there, or better, to secure the release of at least one POW. Although Gritz failed to free any POWs, he returned with a wealth of information on Americans. One thing Gritz recovered was a U.S. Air Force Academy ring for the class of 1965, inscribed with the name "Lance Peter Sijan." The ring was returned to Sijan's family in Wisconsin.
Lance Sijan was captured by the North Vietnamese. It is theorized that since the Pathet Lao also operated throughout Laos, it is possible that Armstrong, if he was captured, was captured by the Pathet Lao.
Although the Pathet Lao stated publicly they held "tens of tens" of American POWs, the U.S. never negotiated their release because the U.S. did not officially recognize the Pathet Lao as a governmental entity. Consequently, nearly 600 Americans lost in Laos disappeared. Not one American held by the Lao was ever released.
Lance P. Sijan graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1965. He was promoted to the rank of Captain during his captivity, and was awarded the Congressional Medal for his extraordinary heroism during his evasion and captivity. Sijan became legendary in his escape attempts and endurance, even to his Vietnamese captors.
John W. Armstrong graduated from Westpoint in 1949. He was promoted to the rank of Colonel during the period he was maintained Missing in Action. The U.S. believes that the Lao or the Vietnamese can account for him, alive or dead.
Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 15 October 1990 from
one or more of the following: raw data from U.S. Government
agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA families, published
sources, interviews.
According to Senator Bob Smith, Vice-Chairman, Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs Letter of December 1, 1992 with regards to U.S. POW/MIA's Who May Have Survived in Capitivity, the following information is known about John W. Armstrong:
USAF-Laos, known captured. Interviewed by Soviet correspondent. (NSA intercept correlation.)
I tried locating this Soviet interview, but was unable to. Thanks to POW Network, I was able to get this additional information:
AS far as we know, no one has hands on any of the documents that the last known alive list mentions. Most are "debriefs" from returning POWs - not available in any way to the public, and POWs can only "read" them if they go through enough red tape to get permission. Without doc numbers, it's impossible to ask for an FOIA declassification on the spot. Have attached every clip and paste we could find on this for you though.....
[rainey.94 08/27/94]
WE ARE FAXING THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION AT THE REQUEST OF JUDY COADY RAINEY, SISTER OF POW/MIA ROBERT COADY. JUDY IS ANXIOUS TO FIND OUT IF ANY OF THE FAMILIES INVOLVED WITH THIS INFORMATION, RECEIVED IT FROM THE GOVERNMENT. AS WITH SO MANY, JUDY CAME ACROSS THIS INFORMATION BY ACCIDENT. WE ASK THOSE WITH NEWSLETTERS TO PUBLISH THIS LIST. WE MUST GET IT TO AS MANY OF THE FAMILIES INVOLVED, AS POSSIBLE. FOR QUESTIONS, PLEASE CONTACT JUDY RAINEY AT 205-757-3029. READ THE LIST CAREFULLY. THERE ARE SOME VERY INTERESTING NAMES ON IT.
A SPECIAL NOTE OF THANKS TO DEENA LINDQUIST, WHO CORRELATED THE CASE NUMBERS TO NAMES.
WITH JUDY'S PERMISSION, WE ARE RETYPING HER MESSAGE. FROM JUDY RAINEY: "I FOUND A LETTER IN MY MICROFICHE THAT INVOLVE THE FOLLOWING CASE #. I WANT TO MAKE SURE THAT ALL THE FAMILIES KNOW ABOUT IT. IT REFERS TO A DOCUMENT CALLED THE "DOWNED AIRCRAFT RECORD OF ENEMY AIRCRAFT SHOT DOWN FROM 1965 TO 1975." IT WAS KEPT BY THE PAVN GROUP 559. WHICH WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR LOGISTICAL AND COMMUNICATIONS SUPPORT FOR THE HO CHI MINH TRAIL, PREDOMINANTLY IN EASTERN LAOS."
THE FOLLOWING UNRESOLVED CASES #
0252 02/14/66 - Hills, John R.
0256 02/24/66 - Hetrick, Raymond H.
0275 03/15/66 - Holmes, David
0276 03/15/66 - Mc Elroy, Glenn D. - Nash, John M.
0297 04/06/66 - Gates, James W. - Lafayette, John W.
0305 04/19/66 - Brown, Orville
0306 04/19/66 - Robbins, Richard
0321 04/29/66 - Eagan, William
0339 05/15/66 - Jensen, George - Tapp, Marshall- Preston, James - Reilly, Lavern - Thompson, George - Williams, James Mc Kenney, Kenneth - Madison, William
0343 05/18/66 - Guillett, Andre - Harley, Lee
0359 06/13/66 - Burkart, Charles - Kerr, Everett
0370 06/22/66 - Smith Warren P.
0376 06/28/66 - Wolfe, Thomas - Cavalli, Anthony - Dudley, Charles
0498 10/20/66 - Wagener, Raymond
0536 12/02/66 - Bott Russel P. - Stark, Willie
0537 12/02/66 - Dyer Irby, - Sulander, Daniel
0553 12/20/66 - Lucas, Larry
0571 01/17/67 - Cogdell, William
0572 01/17/67 - Krogman, Alva
0600 02/25/67 - Hart, Joseph
0635 04/01/67 - Govan, Robert - Williams, David
0703 05/21/67 - Wrobleski, Walter
0784 08/03/67 - Gopp, Thomas - Nahan, John - Wolpe, Jack - Mc Grath, James
0833 11/09/67 - Armstrong, John - Sijan, Lance
0929 11/29/67 - Jones, Louis
[324.txt 12/29/92]
Bob Smith
New Hampshire
United States Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510
U.S. POW/MIAs WHO MAY HAVE SURVIVED IN CAPTIVITY
[insi01.96 01/16/96]
Completely left out is signal intelligence where the NSA captured the enemy talking about men they captured, who were not released and have not been accounted for. Such as these:
A. Edward A. Dickson-MESSAGE #29033Z JAN 66 and #281239Z JAN 66 MESSAGES state that "pilot captured alive...in Quang Binh Province and pilots name is Edward A. Dickson."
B. David R. Magenen-MESSAGE 210530Z OCT 66 and 210605Z OCT 66 MESSAGE states that "Captured the pilot, he is American, brethren met the pilot, he is American."
C. John W. Armstrong-MESSAGE 070543Z JUN .. states that a "Soviet...news article with segment on U.S. MIA's including a Colonel Armstrong, who was shot down on 9 November 1967."
Completely left out of the discussions and conclusions is reference to the "last transmissions" collection that the Pentagon maintains in SECRET, where the last communication radio transmissions are voice recorded.
[ssrep7.txt 02/09/93]
SMITH 324 COMPELLING CASES
Laos John W. Armstrong (0833)
On November 9, 1967, Lieutenant Colonel Armstrong and Lieutenant Lance P. Sijan were the crew on board a camouflaged F-4C, one in a flight of two aircraft on a combat operation over Khammouane Province. On their second pass over the target area, a ford in the area of Ban Laboy, their aircraft went through an estimated 60 rounds of 37mm antiaircraft barrage fire. Their aircraft burst into flames, climbed to approximately 9000 feet and then began to descend on a 15-20 second controlled flight before it crashed approximately one kilometer from Route 912. There was burning throughout the night from the wreckage which landed in a sparsely populated karst area. There were no chute or beepers seen but something appeared to fall from the aircraft. On November 11, 1967, SAR forces established contact with Lieutenant Sijan who was alive on the ground, had a broken leg, and had not had any contact with Colonel Armstrong. Lieutenant Sijan was never rescued but successfully evaded for 46 days before being captured by People's Army of Vietnam forces. He was taken to Hanoi where he died in captivity on January 22, 1968. While in captivity he related his belief that one of their bombs and exploded immediately upon release and this was the reason for their crash. Also, he believed Colonel Armstrong was killed prior to ejection from the explosion of his aircraft's bomb. Lieutenant Sijan was listed as having died in captivity and his remains were repatriated in March 1974.
Colonel Armstrong was not accounted for during Operation Homecoming and returning U.S. POWs had no information on his precise fate. In June 1974 he was declared dead/body not recovered, based on a presumptive finding of death.
In February 1978, the Joint Casualty Resolution Center in Thailand received a report from a refugee in Thailand about four U.S. POWs captured in Sam Neua, Laos, and last seen alive in 1977. The source supplied Colonel Armstrong's name and stated he was one of the POWs. The individual was removed from the refugee camp by Thai authorities and JCRC was unable to reestablish contact with the source.
In October 1983, a U.S. citizen reported he had obtained personal effects of Lieutenant Sijan from a former Lao Army colonel operating with a self-claimed Lao resistance force from the area of Nakhon Phanom, Thailand. In November 1984 another U.S. citizen and POW/MIA hunter provided the U.S. government with information about case 0833 and the recovery of a personal ring which was allegedly passed to the National Security Council officer responsible for the POW/MIA issue. In November 1991, U.S. investigators in Vietnam obtained access to an 84 page listing of U.S. aircraft losses in People's Army Military Region 4. Page 48 contained an aircraft shoot down correlating to this incident.
The Bamboo Cage
The Full Story of the American Servicemen still held hostage in South-East Asia.
On 9 November, 1967, John W. Armstrong and Lance Sijan were lost over Laos. Operational data reveals Sijan to have been captured and have died in captivity. His remains were returned in 1974. Operational data has little to say about Armstrong. Collateral intelligence suggests he was held in captivity. A post-fire report overheard by the NSA confirms that both men were captured. Mooney believes Armstrong would have been used as slave labour on the Ho Chi Minh trail as the logistics system was under heavy
Page 239
pressure at the time, not only to support current operations in the South but also in the build-up for the 1968 Tet offensive.
"As an American asked to serve, I was prepared to fight, to be wounded,
to be captured and even prepared to die, but I was not prepared to be abandoned."
(Former POW Eugene "Red" McDaniel - Source: VVnW POW/MIA Page)
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