Burke H. Morgan
MORGAN, BURKE HENDERSON
Name: Burke Henderson Morgan
Rank/Branch: O3/US Air Force
Unit: (unknown, per USAF)
Date of Birth: 04 June 1936
Home City of Record: Manitou Springs CO
Date of Loss: 22 August 1967
Country of Loss: Laos
Loss Coordinates: 193830N 1033345E (UG490720)
Status (in 1973): Killed/Body Not Recovered
Category: 2
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: A26A
Refno: 0802
Other Personnel in Incident: John C.G. Kerr (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 families, published sources, interviews.
Updated by the P.O.W. NETWORK 1998.
REMARKS:
SYNOPSIS: The Douglas A26 was a twin-engine attack bomber with World War II
service. In Vietnam, it served the French in the 1950's and also the U.S. in
the early years of American involvement in Southeast Asia. In 1966, eight
A26's were deployed to Nakhon Phanom to perform hunter-killer missions
against truck convoys in southern Laos.
Maj. John C.G. Kerr was the pilot and Capt. Burke H. Morgan the navigator of
an A26A aircraft assigned a mission over the Plain of Jars region of Laos on
August 22, 1967. The Plain of Jars had long been controlled by the communist
Pathet Lao and a continual effort had been made by the secret CIA-directed
force of some 30,000 indigenous tribesmen to strengthen anti-communist
strongholds there. The U.S. committed millions of dollars to the secret war
in Laos. Details of this secret operation were not released until August
1971.
During the mission radar and radio contact was lost with Kerr and Morgan,
and they were declared missing at the time of estimated fuel exhaustion.
About four years later, unspecified evidence was received by the Department
of the Air Force that both men died at the time of the incident. They were
at that time declared Killed in Action.
Because Laos was "neutral" and because the U.S. continued to state they were
not at war with Laos (although we were regularly bombing North Vietnamese
traffic along the border and conducted assaults against communist
strongholds thoughout the country at the behest of the anti-communist
government of Laos), and the U.S. did not recognize the Pathet Lao as a
government entity, the nearly 600 Americans lost in Laos were never
recovered.
The Pathet Lao stated that they would release the "tens of tens" of American
prisoners they held only from Laos. At war's end, no American held in Laos
was released - or negotiated for.
Mounting evidence indicates that hundreds of Americans are still alive in
captivity in Southeast Asia. They proudly served their country and deserve
better than abandonment.
Burke H. Morgan was promoted to the rank of Major during the period he was
maintained missing.
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