In remembrance of all the brave men and women who have served their country.
We pray that someday all POW/MIA's will be brought home.
| GROTH, WADE LAWRENCE Name: Wade Lawrence Groth Rank/Branch: E4/US Army Unit: 50th Medical Detachment, 43rd Medical Group, 44th Medical Brigade Date of Birth: 14 May 1947 Home City of Record: Greenville MI (joined Army in Cleveland OH) Date of Loss: 12 February 1968 Country of Loss: South Vietnam Loss Coordinates: 121721N 1074713E (ZU030600) Status (in 1973): Missing In Action Category: 4 Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: UH1H Refno: 1046 |
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Other Personnel In Incident: Harry W. Brown, Alan W. Gunn, Jerry L. Roe (all
missing)
Source: Compiled 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 in 1998.
REMARKS:
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SYNOPSIS: On February 12, 1968, SP5 Harry Brown, medic; 1Lt. Jerry Roe, As U.S. Air Force Tactical Control Radar operators at Ban Me Thuot tracked |
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An Army Infantry unit searched the apparent crash site near the Cambodian
border for 36 hours, but found neither the helicopter nor its crew. Snipers
were not known to be in the area, and it is not believed the helicopter was
shot down, according to an Army report, indicating possible mechanical
trouble.
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In April 1969, CIA was asked to analyze the positive identifications made by a rallier of a number of photographs of missing Americans. The rallier selected the photos of both Harry Brown and Jerry Roe as two men he believed to have been prisoners of war. CIA could not determine why the source selected them. In 1979, Sean O'Toolis, an Irish-American, was touring Bong Song Camp, 40 miles south of Hanoi, on an IRA gun-buying mission, when he alleges he met and spoke with American prisoners, Brendon Foley and Wade Groth, a prison workmate of Foley's. He also claims to have talked to men named MacDonald, Jenning and an O'Hare or O'Hara. He brought a message to Foley's brother and fingerprints of Foley and O'Hara. He identified old photos of Groth, and gave believable descriptions of Foley and Groth. Neither family knows whether or not to believe O'Toolis, as much of his account of his travels seems incorrect. |
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Whether the four men aboard the dustoff lost on February 12, 1968 survived to be captured is unknown. The coincidence of two separate sources identifying three members of the crew seems to strong to ignore. The U.S. Government does not believe there is any substance to these reports. Based on thousands of still-classified sighting reports, many experts believe hundreds of Americans did survive, and are still alive, waiting to be brought home. If even one is alive, he must be brought home. |
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"Never
think that war,
No matter how necessary,
Nor how justified, Is not a
crime,
Ask the infantry and ask the dead.
"
E. Hemingway
