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Rank/Branch: O5/US Navy Unit: Attack Squadron 212, USS HANCOCK (CVA 19) Date of Birth: 05 June 1935 Home City of Record: Waskom TX Date of Loss: 10 July 1972 Country of Loss: North Vietnam Loss Coordinates: 201100N 1055700E (WH871207) Status (in 1973): Missing in Action Category: 2 Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: A4F Other Personnel in Incident: (none missing) Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 30 April 1990 from one or more of the following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews. REMARKS: SYNOPSIS: The USS HANCOCK first saw action in Vietnam when aircraft from her decks flew strikes against enemy vessels in Saigon Harbor in late 1944. The Essex class carrier, extensively modernized, returned to Vietnam during the early years of the Vietnam war. The attack carriers USS CORAL SEA, USS HANCOCK and USS RANGER formed Task Force 77, the carrier striking force of the U.S. Seventh Fleet in the Western Pacific. The HANCOCK was the smallest type of flattop to operate in the Vietnam theater, but pilots from her fighter and attack squadrons distinguished themselves throughout the duration of the war. On June 12, 1966, Commander Hal Marr, the CO of VF-211 gained the first F8 Russian MiG kill. Commander Frank C. Green was a pilot assigned to Attack Squadron 212 onboard the USS HANCOCK. On July 10, 1972, CDR. Green was launched in his A4F Skyhawk aircraft to lead a night armed reconnaissance mission over North Vietnam. Green and his wing man had completed the armed reconnaissance of an assigned road segment and proceeded on their secondary mission to locate and destroy any targets of opportunity they might find. They sighted vehicle lights some distance south of their position and flew in that direction in order to make an unlighted bomb attack. Shortly after the attack, the wing man observed a small flash in the general target area immediately followed by a large, fuel type, secondary explosion on the ground. Not hearing an acknowledgment that CDR. Green was off the target or a reply to his comments about the explosion, the wing man suspected that the explosion might be CDR. Green's aircraft. Search and rescue efforts were initiated immediately, but attempts made to contact CDR. Green met with negative results. The crash site was located, and shortly after, the crash site had been camouflaged. It was believed that Green would not have camouflaged the site before he could be rescued. Since it was not known if CDR. Green was killed in the crash of his aircraft or survived to be captured, Green was placed in a casualty status of Missing in Action. Since the area in which he crashed (about 5 miles southwest of the city of Ninh Binh in Ninh Binh Province) was near a heavily populated area, there is every reason to believe the North Vietnamese could tell us what happened to CDR. Frank C. Green. When 591 Americans were released from POW camps at the end of the war, CDR. Green was not among them. Military officials were startled that "hundreds" suspected to be prisoner or expected to be released, were not freed. Since that time, nearly 10,000 reports relating to Americans missing, prisoner or unaccounted for in Southeast Asia have been received by the U.S. Government. Many officials, having reviewed this largely classified information, believe that there are hundreds of Americans still alive in captivity today. Whether CDR. Frank C. Green, Jr. survived to be captured is not known. If he is among those believed to still be alive is uncertain. What is certain, however, is that the United States has a legal and moral obligation to the men she sent to war in her name. If there is even one American held alive against his will, we must do everything in our power to bring him home. |
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20 year Navy Vietnam Vet.
HMC(SS) USN Ret.
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