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Name: Robert "Bob" Franchot Frishmann Rank/Branch: O2/US Navy Unit: USS Coral Sea Date of Birth: (ca 1940) Home City of Record: San Francisco CA Date of Loss: 24 October 1967 Country of Loss: North Vietnam Loss Coordinates: 212800N 1052600E (WJ448736) Status (in 1973): Released POW Category: Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: F4B Other Personnel In Incident: at same coordinates, same day on another F4 - Richard C. Clark (missing) and Charles R. Gillespie (returned POW); Earl G. Lewis (returned POW) REMARKS: 690805 RELEASED BY DRV
SYNOPSIS: On October 24, 1967, Ltjg. Richard Clark was flying as backseater aboard the F4B Phantom fighter jet flown by Commander Charles R. Gillespie on a bombing mission over the Hanoi, Haiphong and Vinh Phuc region of North Vietnam. The aircraft was one in a flight of two. Clark and Gillespie's aircraft was hit by a surface-to-air missile and crashed in Vinh Phu Province. Other members of the flight observed two good parachutes, heard one electronic beacon signal, and observed one unidentified crew member on the ground. On the same day, the F4 flown by Earl Lewis and Robert Frishmann was shot down at the same coordinates. Frishmann relates that he "wasn't even diving when they hit me. I was flying. Bad luck!" Frishmann sustained a serious injury to his arm by missile fragments. Frishmann believed Lewis was dead, but after 4 hours, located him. Both were captured by the Vietnamese. The Vietnamese were able to save Frishmann's arm, but he lost his elbow, leaving the arm nearly 8 inches shorter than the other. A reporter, Oriana Fallaci, interviewed Frishmann for Look Magazine in July 1969. At that time, he had been held in solitary confinement for 18 months. Lewis, Frishmann and Gillespie were held in various locations in and around Hanoi as prisoners. At no time did any of them see Richard Clark, who had successfully ejected from the aircraft. Lt. Frishmann was released in August 1969 with the blessings of the POW community. His message to the world would reveal the torture endured by Americans held in Vietnam and cause a public outcry which would eventually help stop the torture and result in better treatment for the prisoners. Gillespie and Lewis were both released from Hanoi March 14, 1973 in the general prisoner release nearing the end of American involvement in the war in Vietnam. Cdr. Gillespie, in his debrief, stated that after the missile hit, smoke filled the cockpit, and as the intercom system failed, he gave an emergency hand signal to eject and he did not see Lt. Clark again. On October 24, Radio Hanoi announced that in the afternoon of October 24, eight U.S. war planes had been shot down and that a number of U.S. pilots had been captured. The U.S. correlates this information to Lt. Clark and placed him in prisoner of war classification. (Inexplicably, however, the Defense Intelligence Agency codes Clark as "category 2" which means only "suspected" enemy knowledge of his fate.) If Lt. Clark was captured, why did he not return home? If he died, where are his remains? If he is one of the hundreds of Americans experts now believe are still alive in captivity in Southeast Asia, what are we doing to bring him home? What must he be thinking of us?