Daniel Raymond Phillips's POW/MIA Page

This page is dedicated to all the missing POW/MIAs, and most especially, to the one I have adopted, Daniel Raymond Phillips, as part of "Operation Just Cause"

It is with a heavy heart that I ask all who read this page to send a letter to your congressman demanding an answer, for the 2,000+ men who are still unaccounted for, and their families. This situation is an outrage that can not be tolerated. Only consider this:
What if it was YOUR brother, father, husband, or son who was missing and no one seemed to care?

Please join with us and help bring him home!

My MIA's Name and Info
Synopsis of Loss Report
A Personal Note
What You Can Do To Help

My MIA's Name and Info

Name: Daniel Raymond Phillips
Rank/Branch: E5/US Army Special Forces
Unit: Company C, Detachment A-101, 5th Special Forces Group
Date of Birth: 07 August 1944
Home City of Record: Philadelphia PA
Loss Date: 07 February 1968
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 163602N 1064058E (XD795360)
Status (in 1973): Missing In Action
Category: 1
Acft/Vehicle/Ground: Ground
Personnel In Incident: Dennis L. Thompson; William G. McMurry; Harvey G. Brande; (all released 1973). Kenneth Hanna; Daniel R. Phillips; James W. Holt; James Moreland; Charles Lindewald; (all missing); Eugene Ashley Jr. (killed)

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Synopsis of Loss Report

The Lang Vei Special Forces camp in the northwestern corner of South Vietnam along Route 9, a mile and a half from the Laotian border, had been established in late December 1966 as a result of the Special Forces Detachment A101 having been moved out of its former Khe Sanh location. It seemed ill fated from the beginning.

In March 1967, one of the worst tragedies to befall the Special Forces CIDG program during the war occurred. U.S. Air Force released napalm ordnance on the nearby village which spewed exploding fire over the camp, landing zone, minefield and village. 135 CIDG and native civilians were killed, and 213 were horribly wounded, burned or disfigured.

Only two months later, on May 4, a Viet Cong night attack on the camp wiped out the Special Forces command group, all in one bunker, and killed the detachment commander and his executive officer, as well as seriously wounding the team sergeant. This attack was a prelude to the larger siege of Khe Sanh, and was a grim reminder of the dangerous neighborhood Special Forces had moved into.

Continue Reading Synopsis of Loss Report

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A Personal Note

Daniel Raymond Phillips was last seen evading NVA armor just over a month before I was born. His status has been MIA since that time. In other words, Daniel R. Phillips' whereabouts and his ultimate fate have been unknown to the government of the United States for as long as I've been alive. No elected or appointed government official has done a thing a resolve this issue. I find this situation to be intolerable. If Daniel Phillips was captured, he should have been repatriated by now. If Daniel Phillips was killed, he deserves a decent burial with full military honors. Daniel Phillips has received neither.

I never met Daniel Phillips. I know virtually nothing about the man. What I do know, I have gathered from a few official and unofficial sources. I know that he was a loyal American soldier. I know that, when called, he served his country. I know that he was out in the field and in combat while I was still in my mother's womb.

Today, I enjoy the American way of life and the good name of the United States of America. Daniel Phillips was fighing to protect that American way of life and that good name of the United States of America so that you, me, and everbody else in the United States could enjoy the same. In other words, Daniel Phillips was fighting for me, when I was unable to do so for myself. He defended me, my future way of life, and my country's good name, when I was incapable of defending them myself.

Now, Daniel Phillips is in need of my help. He can no longer defend the American way of life. He has been abandoned by the country who's good name he fought to protect. When Daniel Phillips was called, he served. Now it is my turn to come to his aid.

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How You Can Help

We 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 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 we do not make this issue our "Highest Priority" now, then you can bet if the need ever arises and our sons and daughters go off to war, their husbands, wives and children will end up carrying the same torch. We do not want our grandchildren to ache with the pain of not knowing. This outrage must be stopped NOW, and we must not accept any more excuses.