SYNOPSIS: On March 1, 1971, W1 Paul V. Black was the aircraft commander of a UH1H helicopter on a combat mission about 15 miles within Cambodia in Kampong Cham Province. During the mission, the aircraft received enemy ground fire, crashed and burned. The helicopter apparently lost its main rotor on impact with the ground. The vehicle exploded into a fireball. All the crew members were aboard the aircraft at the time, and none were seen to exit.

Subsequent recovery efforts recovered the remains of the pilot and passengers (no further identification available), but no trace could be found of W1 Black. Although he is thought to have perished in the crash of the aircraft, the U.S. believes that the enemy forces in the area probably know his fate.

Fifteen years after the war, the Cambodian (Kampuchean) government let it be known that they had the remains of nearly 100 Americans. Unfortunately, the U.S. has no diplomatic relations with Kampuchea and would not officially respond. Although several U.S. Congressmen have attempted to recover the remains of these Americans, the government of Kampuchea clearly wishes an official request from the U.S., which the U.S. Government is unwilling to give.

It is not thought that Americans captured by the Cambodian communists were allowed to survive, but were instead executed. As Vietnamese troops also coursed through Cambodia, as in Laos, however, a significant number of these downed pilots and crew might have been captured by the Vietnamese, thus escaping the post-war holocost caused by the Pol Pot regime in Cambodia.

The governments of Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and the United States have for nearly 20 years engaged in political pandering while reports mount that Americans are still alive in Southeast Asia. It's time we brought our men home.