Master Sargent Douglas Vincent Dailey

I received a POW bracelet back in 1969 with the name M/SGT Douglas V. Dailey on it. I've kept this bracelet all these years wondering what ever happened to Douglas Dailey. I've always dreamed that he came home to his family.

I recently found "The Wall" site on the internet and found that he was listed as deceased. His plane went down over Laos. His body was never recovered. I need to have more information. I'm not satisfied with this report. It's important to remember our missing service men and try to find answers for their families and friends.

We went to Washington, DC in August of '98 and I was able to find Douglas on The Wall. Even though he wasn't my family member, it was a very emotional experience for me to find him there. I can't even imagine what it must be like to have a relative or close loved one's name there.

Name: Douglas Vincent Dailey 
Rank/Branch: O2/US Air Force 
Unit: 606th Special Operations Squadron, Nakhon Phanom, Thailand 
Date of Birth: 30 June 1936 
Home City of Record: Waterford MI 
Date of Loss: 13 December 1968 
Country of Loss: Laos 
Loss Coordinates: 170100N 1055900E (XD055824) 
Status (In 1973): Missing In Action 
Category: 2 
Acft/Vehicle/Ground: C123K 
Other Personnel in Incident: On C123K: John Albright; Morgan Donahue; 
Joseph Fanning; Samuel Walker; Fred L. Clarke (all missing); On B57B: 
Thomas W. Dugan; Francis J. McGouldrick (all missing) 

REMARKS: MID AIR COL-1 PARA OBS 

SYNOPSIS: On December 13, 1968, the crew of a C123K was dispatched 
from Nakhon Phanom Airfield located in northern Thailand near the border 
of Laos on an operational mission over Laos. The C123, a converted WWII 
glider equipped with two engines, was assigned night patrol missions along 
the Ho Chi Minh trail. Flying low at 2000-3000 feet, the job of the seven man 
crew was to spot enemy truck convoys on the trail and to light up the trails 
for accompanying B57 bombers which were flying overhead. 

The crew on this particular mission included the pilot (name unknown); 1Lt. 
Joseph P. Fanning, co-pilot; 1Lt. John S. Albright, navigator; 1Lt. Morgan J. 
Donahue, navigator; SSgt. Samuel F. Walker, SSgt. Douglas V. Dailey, TSgt. 
Fred L. Clarke, crewmembers. At 0330 hours, as the aircraft was flying about 
30 miles southwest of the Ban Karai Pass in Laos, the crew of the C123 were 
jolted by a blow on the top of their plane in the after section. An overhead B57 
that had been called in for an air strike had collided with the control plane. The 
C123 lost power and went out of control. The pilot, stunned by a blow to the head, 
lost consciousness. 

Because of its glider configuration, the plane did not fall straight to the 
ground, but drifted lazily to the ground in a flat spin which lasted several 
minutes. When the pilot regained consciousness, he noted that the co-pilot 
(Fanning) and navigator (Donahue) were gone. Donahue's station was in the 
underbelly of the plane where, lying on his stomach, he directed an infared 
detection device through an open hatch. The pilot parachuted out, landed in a 
treetop where he remained until rescued at dawn. On the way down, he saw 
another chute below him, but, because of the dark, was unable to determine 
who the crew member was. 

Intelligence reports after the incident indicate that Donahue, at least, safely 
reached the ground near Tchepone, but suffered a broken leg. A refugee who 
escaped captivity in Laos in 1974 reported having observed an American prisoner 
broughy to the caves near Tchepone, where he was held, in the period between 
1968 and 1970. This American was later moved to another locatation unknown to 
the refugee. 

Several reports referring to "Moe-gan" and others describing Donahue as the 
American called the "animal doctor" were received over the years since war's 
end. In June and August, 1987, the Donahue family was given intelligence 
reports tracking Morgan's movements from a POW camp in Kham Kuet, Khammouane 
Province, Laos in the spring of 1987 to another camp in the Boualapha District 
of the same province in August 1987. These reports were mere WEEKS old, yet the 
U.S. marked them "routine". One of them gave Morgan's aircraft type and serial 
number, which turned out to be, instead of the serial number of the aircraft, 
Morgan's father's ZIP CODE. Morgan's family believes this is clearly a signal 
to them from Morgan. 

The crew of the C123K are among nearly 600 Americans who disappeared in Laos. 
Many of these men were alive on the ground. The Lao admitted holding American 
prisoners but these men were never negotiated for. Where are they? Are they 
alive? Imagine the torture the Donahue family endures knowing Morgan is alive, 
yet helpless to do anything to help him. What are we doing to help bring them 
home? 

(John S. Albright II and Morgan J. Donahue graduated in 1967 from the United 
States Air Force Academy) 

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This page created by Barb Lord.