25 Dec 2004 REMEMBERED by a friend, Reba Ellard 17 Aug 2005 It has taken 36 years to get you here and yet it seems like yesterday. While you have finally reached your final rest it will never, ever be over for those of us who remember. From Reba nooboocoo@charter.net

 

06 Nov 2005 I wore your MIA bracelet for years after I got it in 1969. I have often thought about you and your family. Today, I found the bracelet in a box that was packed away and then I found your name on the Wall. Kim Yount-Uryga LaPorte, In. kuryga@comcast.net

 

08 Jan 2006 So long, Ray - We were stationed together at Fort Belvoir just before you left for Vietnam. What a time we had in DC! We left for "in country" at the same time but I made it back. I think of you often, buddy. Your friend - Bill Provine "Junior". From a friend, William Provine wprovine@aol.com

 

13 Mar 2006 I too wore your bracelet for years after I got it in 1969. I have thought of you and your family, and prayed that you would be found alive, or that your remains would be identified, so that you could finally be sent home. Imagine my surprise, when I discovered this web site, and found out that your body had been identified! Rest in peace, dear friend, and thank you for the ultimate gift that any service person can give for his country - his life. Judy Derycke jderycke@aol.com

 

14 Nov 2006 I too wore your MIA bracelet from 1969 until it broke in two. I go and see your name every time the Wall comes around my home town. I am hoping you and the others will be returned to your homes and your loved one. Coleen Thomason Bloomfield, Missouri cthomason53@aol.com

 

31 Jul 2007 I have just found this website and am so grateful to know that Mr. Bobe was returned home. I also have his POW bracelet that I got when I was 11 years old. I didn't understand what was going on at the time, but I do now. My utmost respect goes to all who were sent to Vietnam and apologies for the way they were treated when they got home. God bless you all. If anyone can give me more information about Mr. Bobe I would appreciate it. Where was he from? Was he married? Have children? Thanks. Lulane Chasteen lulanechasteen@nc.rr.com

 

14 Oct 2007 I'm 20 years old and I've been wearing Raymond's MIA bracelet for the last 5 or so years. I decided to look him up to see if there were any recovery efforts and so forth. I'm so glad to hear he has been found and brought home where he belongs. Thank You for everything you did for this country. You won't be forgotten. brandella1987@msn.com

 

16 Nov 2007 I too wore your MIA bracelet while I was in Junior High School. I have visited you at the Wall, and think of you whenever I think of Vietnam. It's nice to finally put a face to the name. Frank Leibsly webmaster@mysavingsbonds.com

 

A Note from The Virtual Wall On 16 March 1969 the Command Aviation Company, 210th Aviation Battalion, was tasked with flying a routine logistics flight which originated at Long Thanh with several scheduled stops enroute Hue/Phu Bai and return. The aircraft assigned was a UC-21A aircraft (tail number 66-18007). The trip was uneventful through its first scheduled stops. At Long Binh passengers Major Marvin L. Foster, SP4 Michael Batt, and PFC Raymond Bobe boarded the aircraft for transportation to Hue. The aircraft went from Long Binh to Qui Nhon, where two passengers deplaned, and departed for Hue/Phu Bai. Although the weather was good on departure from Qui Nhon it deteriorated as the flight approached Danang and the crew requested an instrument flight plan to Hue with radar flight following. Although Danang had radio and radar contact with the UC-21, radio contact was lost when the crew was directed to change frequency to Hue Approach and radar contact was lost shortly thereafter (not unexpectedly, since there's a 5000-foot mountain range between the two places). The official reports do not indicate that Hue/Phu Bai ever established contact with the UC-21. Although search and rescue efforts were begun when the aircraft failed to arrive on time, an airborne search had to await improvement in the weather and were unsuccessful in finding any evidence of the aircraft or its crew and passengers. The five men aboard were classed as "Missing" and were continued in that category until the Secretary of the Army approved Presumptive Findings of Death on the dates shown below: Aircrew, Cmd Avn Co, 210th Avn Bn, 12th Avn Grp, 1 Avn Bde CPT Charles R. Barnes, Fullerton, PA (08/24/1976) CPT David R. Smith, Dayton, OH (10/15/1973) HQ Company, US Army Vietnam LTC Marvin L. Foster, Hubbard, TX (10/10/1978) SFC Raymond E. Bobe, Tarrant, AL (11/06/1978) SSG Michael L. Batt, Defiance, OH (08/31/1978) Nothing further was known until the following press release was issued: NEWS RELEASE from the United States Department of Defense No. 720-05 IMMEDIATE RELEASE Jul 15, 2005 Army Soldiers MIA from Vietnam War are Identified The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of four U.S. servicemen, missing in action from the Vietnam War, have been identified and are being returned to their families for burial. They are Lt. Col. Marvin L. Foster, Hubbard, Tex.; Capt. David R. Smith, Dayton, Ohio; Sgt. 1st Class Michael L. Batt, Defiance, Ohio; and Sgt. 1st Class Raymond E. Bobe, Tarrant, Ala., all U.S. Army. On March 16, 1969, Capt. Smith was piloting an Army U-21A "Ute" aircraft with Foster, Batt, Bobe and one other passenger aboard whose remains have not been identified. The aircraft left Qui Nhon airfield in South Vietnam, headed for Phu Bai airport near Hue. The Da Nang control tower briefly established radar and radio contact, but was unable to maintain it. The aircraft never landed at the Phu Bai airport. Combat search and rescue units scoured the area, both land and sea, for the next eight days, but did not find the missing aircraft. In 1988 and 1989, the Vietnamese government turned over to U.S. specialists several boxes of human remains, including identification tags for Bobe and Smith. The technology at the time failed to yield an identification of the remains. Also in 1989, a Vietnamese refugee in the Philippines was interviewed, and turned over human remains as well as a rubbing of an identification tag for Bobe. U.S. specialists from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) conducted seven investigations between 1993 and 1999, to include interviews with Vietnamese nationals who claimed to have knowledge of the crash. Then in April and May of 2000, a JPAC team excavated an area about 25 miles northwest of Da Nang, where they found aircraft debris and human remains. JPAC scientists and Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory specialists used mitochondrial DNA as one of the forensic tools to help identify the remains. The press release does not mention Captain Charles R. Barnes by name; he is the "one other passenger aboard whose remains have not been identified". A JTF-FA summary of the recovery operation dated 05 April 2005 gives the location of the crash site - the peak of Nui Cai Mountain, 11 kilometers east-southeast of Phu Loc, part of the 5000-foot mountain range mentioned above.

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