Rolling Thunder #1 NC - NC MIA: Luther H. Howard

Rolling Thunder #1 NC - NC MIA: Luther H. Howard Home >> Index >> NC MIA >> LUTHER H. HOWARD

Luther Harris Howard
E4, USA
MIA: 30 June 1967
The Wall: 22E Row 87

Unit: Battery A, 2nd Battalion, 35th Artillery, 5th Artillery Group
Date of Birth: 25 September 1947 (Mount Croghan, NC)
Home City of Record: Hamlet, NC
Date of Loss: 30 June 1967
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 103025N 1064358E (XC896619)
Status (in 1973): Killed/Body Not Recovered
Category: 4
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: Ground
Refno: 0745
Other Personnel In Incident: (none missing)

REMARKS:

SYNOPSIS: On June 30, 1967, SP4 Luther Howard was swimming with a group some 25 miles south of Saigon in Long An Province, South Vietnam in the vicinity of grid coordinates XC 896 619.

SP4 Howard was seen to go under the water, and never resurfaced. A search was launched immediately, but was unsuccessful. Efforts to locate him or his body were continued both on land and sea, but no remains were located.

For those units assigned to shore areas, swimming was a great recreation. Unfortunately, there were a number of accidental drownings - deaths that were tragically ironic amidst a war. SP4 Howard is listed with honor among the missing because no remains were found. His case seems quite clear. For others who are listed missing, resolution is not as simple. Many were known to have survived their loss incident. Quite a few were in radio contact with search teams and describing an advancing enemy. Some were photographed or recorded in captivity. Others simply vanished without a trace.

Reports continue to mount that we abandoned hundreds of living Americans to the enemy when we left Southeast Asia. While Howard is almost certainly not among them, his death is a symbol of a war ended without honor - until all who fought it come home.

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