Perry H. Jefferson
JEFFERSON, PERRY HENRY
Name: Perry Henry Jefferson
Rank/Branch: O3/US Air Force
Unit: 120th Tactical Fighter Squadron, 35th Tactical Fighter Wing
Date of Birth: 18 August 1931
Home City of Record: Denver CO
Date of Loss: 03 April 1969
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 114300N 1091200E (BP750005)
Status (in 1973): Missing In Action
Category: 4
Acft/Vehicle/Ground: O1G
Refno: 1422
Other Personnel in Incident: Arthur G. Ecklund (missing)
Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 01 July 1990 from one or more of
the following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence
with POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews. Updated by the P.O.W.
NETWORK 1998.
REMARKS:
SYNOPSIS: On April 3, 1969, U.S. Army 1Lt. Arthur G. Ecklund and his U.S.
Air Force observer, Capt. Perry H. Jefferson, were flying a visual
reconnaissance mission out of Phan Rang airbase. They left the base at 0700
hours in an O1G aircraft (serial #51-12078) and reported in by radio at 0730
hours giving their location, destination and information concerning a convoy
they were going to check out. No further communication was heard, except for
a signal "beeper".
Extensive search efforts began at 0950 hours with all available aircraft,
and continued for three days without success. The aircraft is believed to
have occurred in an area occupied by enemy forces, thus preventing a ground
search.
On April 15, 1969, a Vietnamese source reported that he had been in contact
with a communist Montagnard who claimed the Viet Cong had shot down an
aircraft with two Americans in it, and the Americans had been wounded, but
were alive, and being held in captivity. He said the aircraft was shot down
between Phan Rang and Cam Ranh City. A later report indicated that two men
fitting the description of Ecklund and Jefferson were seen on a trail being
guarded by Viet Cong, and that they appeared to be in good health.
The U.S. Defense Department list Jefferson's loss coordinates near the
coastline of Vietnam, about 20 miles south of Cam Ranh, while Ecklund's loss
coordinates are listed about 10 miles southwest of Cam Ranh and about 15
miles northwest of those of Jefferson. Both men are listed as lost in Ninh
Thuan Province, South Vietnam.
The presence of the reports of captivity and the emergency radio "beeper"
lends weight to the fact that the two men were captured. There can be no
question that the Vietnamese know the fate of two men. As reports concerning
Americans still alive in Southeast Asia continue to flow in, it becomes
increasingly more important to find out what happened to the men we left
behind.
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