NAME: Victor Joe
Apodaca, Jr.
RANK/BRANCH: O3/USAF
UNIT: 398th Tactical Fighter
Squadron, Da Nang, South Vietnam
DATE of BIRTH: 31 May 1937
HOME CITY of RECORD: Englewood
CO
DATE of LOSS: 08 June 1967
COUNTRY of LOSS: North Vietnam
LOSS COORDINATES: 173900N
1061600E (XE343517)
STATUS (in 1973): Missing
In Action
CATEGORY: 2
ACFT/VEHICLE/GROUND: F4C
OTHER PERSONNEL IN INCIDENT:
Jon T. Busch (remains returned)
REFNO: 0727
REMARKS: POSS DEAD FIR 3170909973
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 with
information from the National Alliance of Families.
SYNOPSIS: On the evening
of June 8, 1967, two F4C Phantom planes departed Da
Nang Air base on an armed reconnaissance mission over
North Vietnam. Hambone
1 took the lead, followed about a mile behind by Hambone
2, commanded by
Capt. Victor Apodaca, Jr. and flown by Capt. Jon T. Busch.
The two aircraft
were flying at an altitude of about 4500 feet over a
river valley with
rolling to mountainous terrain about 22 miles northeast
of Dong Hoi, North
Vietnam.
Hambone 1 radioed Hambone 2 that he was encountering heavy
and accurate
ground fire. Fifteen seconds later, Apodaca acknowledged
the warning and
reported that his aircraft had been hit. Hambone 1 advised
Apodaca to exit
the area and head for the coast (where a safer at-sea
rescue could occur).
Moments later, Hambone 2 reported that it was experiencing
control and
hydraulics problems. The last message from Hambone 2
gave the direction of
the aircraft and its altitude,
which was 16,000 feet.
Seconds later, emergency signals were received for about
25 seconds, but it
was not possible to determine whether one or two radio
signals were
broadcasting, nor could the precise point of origination
be determined.
Hambone 1, critically low on fuel, was forced to return
to base.
An electronic search was conducted, but suspended due
to darkness, bad
weather and heavy anti-aircraft fire. During the search,
no electronic or
visual contact was made and no evidence of the aircraft
was found.
The Air Force told the families they could not determine
whether or not the
men survived. Neither man was among the prisoners released
in 1973 from
Vietnam, and the Hanoi government denies any knowledge
of them for 20 years.
On November 12, 1973, a refugee reported the death of
an American airman
which occurred in Bo Trach District, Quang Binh Province,
North Vietnam at
about 1500 hours one day in June 1967. According to the
report, a U.S. F4
jet flying with about five other jets bombing a bridge
on Route 1A was hit
by 37mm anti-aircraft fire, crashed into Doi Troc Hill
in Chanh Hoa II
village. The source further stated that an airman bailed
out and landed in a
forest near the same village. At about 1530 hours, the
refugee went to where
the airman landed and saw his body lying in the grass.
He was told by
villagers that approximately 10 minutes after the airman
had landed,
militiamen from the village found him hiding in a bamboo
thicket and
captured him. The villagers then watched as the militiamen
beat the American
to death with hoes and bamboo sticks.
The refugee said he observed the dead American for about
10 minutes from a
distance of about 5 meters. He described the airman as
a caucasian, about 45
years old, 5' 11" tall, weighing about 220 pounds with
fair complexion,
short blonde hair, a mustache about one centimeter long
and a heavy beard.
He was unable to identify the airman from photos of the
missing. JCRC
correlated the report to the Busch/Apodaca incident.
In the spring of 1988, remains identified as Jon Busch,
a burned map, three
pieces of bone (which were identified as non human by
a Vietnamese
anthropologist) and a charred and battered nameplate
bearing Apodaca's name
were returned to Presidential Envoy General John Vessey.
Busch's remains were positively identified by the U.S.
Army Central
Identification Laboratory in Hawaii, based largely on
the correlation of the
refugee report, which evidently matched information given
over by the
Vietnamese with the remains. The status of "Box 19",
which purportedly hold
the effects of Victor Apodaca Jr, are still unknown to
his family.
There are serious discrepancies in the refugee report
as it relates to Busch
and Apodaca. Jon Busch has red hair, not blonde. Vic
Apodaca has black hair.
Both men were clean shaven, and were forbidden by the
Air Force to grow a
beard. The Hambone flight departed at 5 p.m. in the evening,
while the CIA
report claimed the airman was killed at 3:30 p.m. just
following his
landing. The Hambone flight, while armed, was not involved
in a bombing
mission at all. Jon Busch was declared dead in 1967.
Victor Apodaca was
declared dead three days after the CIA received the refugee
report.
The Apodaca family was never given the report by the U.S.
Government. They
discovered the report through a Freedom of Information
Act request they
filed in 1985. To many observers, there is a serious
problem with the
identification of these remains. Many will retain Jon
Busch on the lists of
missing because the discrepancies are too outrageous
to make the correlation
possible.
Jon Busch and Vic Apodaca are two of nearly 2500 Americans
who were declared
missing in Southeast Asia. Thousands of reports add to
the evidence that
perhaps hundreds of them are still held prisoner of war.
Perhaps Jon and Vic
died on the day of the crash of their aircraft. But,
perhaps they did not.
If the remains returned are not Jon Busch's, who will
be looking for him?
Not the U.S. Government. His case is officially closed.
Vic Apodaca's family
wants the truth. His sister Dolores says, "I won't just
let them bury his
memory based on
some report with that many discrepancies. It's been 22
years, but none of us
are so tired that we'll drop this without a fight."
Victor Joe Apodaca, Jr. was appointed to the Air Force
Academy in 1957. He
was the first Spanish/American/Navajo Indian to attend
the Academy. Victor's
sister, Dolores Alfond, heads the national organization
out of Washington
State, the National Alliance of Families for the Return
of America's Missing
Servicemen.
{National Alliance of Families}
CIL-HI TURNS ANIMAL BONES TO HUMAN
Remains currently under consideration for designation
as Air Force Capt.
Victor J. Apodaca have a questionable history.
In 1988, the Vietnamese
unilaterally repatriated remains designated Victor Apodaca.
In April of 1989, the Vietnamese, once again, repatriated
remains
designated Victor Apodaca.
The Comprehensive Case Review, prepared by the Defense
POW/MIA Office
(DPMO) in 1995, referenced both remains repatriations.
Of the 1988
repatriation, DPMO states "SRV unilaterally repatriated
remains of
Busch (backseater), plus box alleged to contain Apodaca
remains. Also
turned over at the time was a mutilated dogtag of Apodaca
and a map.
SRV forewarned U.S. that Apodaca remains were believed
to be non human.
Busch remains were identified; CIL-HI confirmed that
Apodaca remains
were non human."
Of the 1989 repatriation, DPMO stated "unilateral repatriation
included container alleged to contain Apodaca remains
SRV said remains
were acquired for HCM City (Ho Chi Minh City) smuggler
by Public
Security. Remains determined to be human race undetermined.
Nothing
else. Remains held at CIL pending future repatriations.
No indication why
SRV associated remains with Apodaca."
"Remains determine to be be human, race undetermined";
was not what the
Commander of the Joint Casualty Resolution Center said.
According to message traffic, dated September 22, 1989,
the Commander
of JCRC stated:
APODACA, VICTORY J. JR; 0727; QUANG
BINH: RECOVERED FROM
REMAINS DEALERS. REPATRIATED TO
THE U.S. TWICE WITH DOG TAG. THE
U.S. SIDE REPORTS THE REMAINS WERE
ANIMAL BONES.
Animal bones in 1989...
Human bones in 1995....
Tested for an mt-DNA match in 1997....
No explanation has been offered
to the Apodaca family regarding the
transformation of animal bones
to human bones.
