Name: Gary Henry Fors
Rank/Branch: O3/US Marine Corps
Unit: VMFA 122, MAG 11
Date of Birth: 29 April 1941
Home City of Record: Puyallup WA
Date of Loss: 22 December 1967
Country of Loss: Laos
Loss Coordinates: 161433N 1065607E (YC080970)
Status (In 1973): Missing In Action
Category: 2
Acft/Vehicle/Ground: F4B
Source: Compiled by Homecoming
II Project with the assistance of one or more
of the following: raw data from
U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence
with POW/MIA families, published
sources, interviews.
Date Compiled: 01 January 1990
Other Personnel in Incident: Lt. Gary Lashlee
(rescued)
REMARKS
SYNOPSIS: The Phantom, used by Air Force, Marine and Navy air wings, served a multitude of functions including fighter-bomber and interceptor, photo and electronic surveillance. The two man aircraft was extremely fast (Mach 2), and had a long range (900 - 2300 miles, depending on stores and mission type). The F4 was also extremely maneuverable and handled well at low and high altitudes. The F4 was selected for a number of state-of-the-art electronics conversions, which improved radar intercept and computer bombing capabilities enormously. Most pilots considered it one of the "hottest" planes around.
Capt. Gary H. Fors was the pilot, and Lt. Gary Lashlee was his weapons systems operator when the two led an attack mission over Laos in their F4B Phantom. At a point about 5 miles inside Laos in northern Saravane Province, Fors' aircraft was hit and he and Lashlee ejected. Lashlee, the first to eject and still drifting towards the ground, observed Fors as he parachuted safely to the ground near the crash site of the aircraft. As Fors was landing on the ground, communist troops were approaching. Lashlee drifted farther away, and could not determine what happened next. The Marine Corps concluded that Fors had probably been captured. Lt. Gary Lashlee drifted and was rescued within half an hour.
In 1969, Fors' family identified him in pictures of captured servicemen. The military first ruled the photo unrecognizable, then agreed with an Air Force POW who, after he was released in 1973, said it was a picture of himself.
In 1972, a Pathet Lao defector reported that he had seen someone who looked like Gary Fors chained near a limestone cave in Laos. A photograph of a POW in captivity was correlated to Fors by CIA in 1973.
In 1980, a Seattle refugee resident named Boukeva Phavavont said that in 1976, after his own capture by communist soldiers the year before, he saw five Americans imprisoned in a cave near the site where Fors was shot down.
Fors is one of nearly 600 Americans who were left behind in Laos. Even though the Pathet Lao stated publicly that they held "tens of tens" of American prisoners, these men were not negotiated for in the Paris Peace Accords which resulted in the release of 591 Americans from North Vietnam.
Nearly 10,000 reports such as those on Gary
Fors have been received by the U.S. Government since American involvement
in Indochina ended in 1975, yet U.S. policy continues to be that there
is not actionable evidence that any
Americans are still alive.
Many authorities disagree, believing that there are hundreds of Americans still alive and being held unjustly and against their will in Southeast Asia. Gary Fors could be one of those thought to still be alive. If so, what must he be thinking of us?
"All Biographical and loss information on POWs
provided by Operation Just Cause have been supplied by Chuck and Mary Schantag
of POWNET. Please check with POWNET regularly for updates."
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