Name:	Frederick Krupa
Rank/Branch:	O3/US Army Special Forces
Unit:	Exploitation Company A, Task Force 2 Advisory Element
Date of Birth:	02 September 1947
Home City of Record:	Scranton PA
Date of Loss:	27 April 1971
Country of Loss:	South Vietnam (see text)
Loss Coordinates:	141240N 1072555E (YA624721)
Status (in 1973):	Missing In Action
Category:	4
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground:	UH1H
Other Personnel In Incident:	None Missing

SYNOPSIS
Capt. Frederick Krupa was a platoon leader assigned to Company A, Task Force 2 Advisory Element, U.S. Army Special Forces. On April 27, 1971, Krupa was a passenger aboard a UH1H helicopter with which his special commando unit was about to conduct a helicopter insertion 2 miles from the Laotian border northwest of Plei Djereng, Vietnam. When the helicopter was three feet off the ground, hostile forces opened up fire, and Capt. Krupa was seen to fall forward, wounded.

The SCU Company A commander Ayom grabbed Krupa's right shoulder, but when his hand was struck by a bullet, Ayom let go, and Krupa fell from the helicopter from a low level. He was last seen lying next to a log sprawled out on his back, not moving or making a sound, by crew chief SP4 Melvin C. Lew during helicopter ascent.

Whether Krupa was dead or unconscious is unknown. The opportunity to recover him or his body never occurred because of hostile action in the area. He is one of nearly 2500 Americans still missing, prisoner or otherwise unaccounted for from the Vietnam war. Captain Krupa could very well have survived and been captured, only the Vietnamese know for sure of his fate.

When the war ended, refugees from the communist-overrun countries of Southeast Asia began to flood the world, bringing with them stories of live GI's still in captivity in their homelands. Since 1975, over 8000 such stories have been received. Many authorities believe that hundreds of Americans are still held in the countries in Southeast Asia.

The U.S. Government operates on the "assumption" that one or more men are being held, but that it cannot "prove" that this is the case, allowing action to be taken. Meanwhile, low-level talks between the U.S. and Vietnam proceed, yielding a few sets of remains when it seems politically expedient to return them, but as yet, no living American has returned.

All Biographical and loss information on POW/MIA's provided by Operation Just Cause have been supplied by Chuck and Mary Schantag of POWNET. Please check with POWNET regularly for updates.

SOURCE
Compiled by Homecoming II Project (919/527-8079) 15 March 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.

The U.S. Government operates on the "assumption" that one or more men are being held, but that it cannot "prove" that this is the case, allowing action to be taken. Meanwhile, low-level talks between the U.S. and Vietnam proceed, yielding a few sets of remains when it seems politically expedient to return them, but as yet, no living American has returned.

Get Involved America!You can make a difference!!

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 arenow in their 70s...They don't have much time left. We have to demand the answers from the bureaucratsand stay on their backs, (figuratively speaking), until they get themessage that THEY work for US andthat 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 determineor influence thefate of the men who were in the trenches while the diplomats were sharing sherry and canapes andtalking about "Their Plans" for thefuture of SE Asia.