28 March 1944 - 24 January 1967
Unit: 155th Transportation Company, 5th Transportation Battalion, 1st Logistics Command
Date of Birth: 28 March 1944 (Amarillo Tx)
Home City of Record: Carlsbad, NM
Date of Loss: 24 January 1967
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 122946N 1090827E (CP080280)
Status (in 1973): Killed/Body Not Recovered
Category: 3
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: Ground
Refno: 0582
Other Personnel in Incident: (none missing)
Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 01 September 1990 from one or more of the following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA familes, published sources, interviews. Updated by the P.O.W. NETWORK 1998
Synopis: At 1400 hours on January 24, 1967, PFC Max C. Simpson went swimming with a group of enlisted men at Special Services beach at Cam Ranh Bay. After the group began to swim, it was noticed that Simpson was having a difficult time and was unable to make it to shore. One man swam out to assist him, but the current and undertow caused both men to be thrown up against the rocks and the two were separated. Another man attempted to throw a life raft to Simpson, but because of the wind, was not successful. Simpson went under the water and came to the surface several times before finally going under and staying down. Air/Sea search and surface search by boat was conducted. The boat was forced to turn back to shore because of turbulant water. Divers were sent to search that day and the two succeeding days, but rough water prevented them from reaching the point where Simpson was last seen. Flood lights wee used the night of the loss to watch for the body in the water and along the shoreline, but no trace of Max Simpson was ever found. For Max Simpson, death seems a certainty. For hundreds of others, however, simple answeres are not possible. Adding to the torment of nearly 10,000 reports relating to Americans missing in Southeast Asia is the certain knowledge that some Americans who were known to be prisoners of war were not released at the end of the war. Others were suspected to be prisoners, and still others were in radio contact with would-be rescuers when last seen alive. Many were known to have survived their loss incidents, only to diappear with a trace. The problem of Americans still missing torments not only the families of those who are missing, but the men who fought by their sides, and those in the general public who realize the full implication of leaving men unaccounted for at the end of the war. Tragically, many authorities believe there are hundred of Americans still alive in captivity in Southeast Asia today. What must they be thinking of us? What will our next generation say if called to fight if we are unable to bring these men home from Southeast Asia?
