dayThe skies were a bright blue with clouds off to the west getting ready to encroach on our sunshine. The weather report showing foul weather for the next week .... starting today. I decided to ask Dave to do some geocaching while we still could. He agreed and off we went .... east this time. I had found four caches that I wanted to attempt to find .... all in an area I knew existed but had never really explored.
The first find of the day was a cache named "Pluto's Cave". This took us east about 32 miles from home to some of the coolest lava caves ever. These were actually tubes that the lava flowed through at times when Mt. Shasta was most active. The landscape in the area is mostly juniper trees, sage brush and lava rock. "Cinder cones" pop up throught this area everywhere. The view from this cache was unreal. Mt. Shasta covered in snow towering over us. I might as well let you know now ..... I left the camera home. Which makes me ill, but I'm going back to these places to take pictures. It's a must. A definite must.
The second find was names "Splunk" and took us to another cave. Again we need to come back and do more exploring. We didn't have a flashlight and one is needed to venture into these cool caves. There were quite a few people out taking advantage of a great beautiful day. But we were extremely discreet with our finds this time.
The third find was the toughest of the day .... but most rewarding once you got to it. Having to just about climb up the face of a rock cliff to get to it, more than once I thought what the hell am I doing? Not as tough as I'd like to think I am. Age is taking it's toll. The view from the top was unreal .... no other way to explain it. We both had to sit on a boulder and take it in for a few minutes .... until Dave's fear of heights kicked in and I wondered if I was going to get him back down. After a few "oh shit's" ..... and "what was I thinking" statements we were back down.
The fourth cache was well ..... emotional ..... neither of us had a clue what we were walking into ..... and I will share but you will have to put up with me for a minute ..... please bear with me here ....
I grew up with Vietnam. I had friends who's brothers either never came home or came home not the same person as they where when they left. I had cousin's who stayed with us when stationed in San Diego between tours of Vietnam. They would bring friends as well and for four years our home was a "home base" for quite a few sailors ..... who all became a part of my family. I became a "little sister" to a few of these sailors and I would write letters to them when on tour and live to hear back from them. The war was a very real part of my growing up.
During this time they came out with POW / MIA bracelets. Metal bracelets with a name of a soldier engraved into it and the date they became POW / MIA. All my friends and I wore these bracelets. There would be a hole punched on either the left or the right end of the bracelet .... depending which side the hole was punched determined whether your soldier was POW or MIA. I wore my bracelet long after the war was over .... hoping to hear what had happened to my MIA. There came a time when it came off my arm. And I figured I'd never know what happened Lt. Colonel Jeffrey C. Lemon.
Now back to our fourth find yesterday. The cache was named "Remember". And the owner of the cache had put a message of "Remember those who gave their lives so that we might be free to enjoy our sport". That should have been a clue. We ended up in a place called Veterans Living Memorial Sclupture Gardens. I sit here with a loss of words to even describe this place. All wars .... represented in bronze scluptures spread out amongst the lava rock, junipers and sage brush. Beautiful pieces ...... emotional pieces. With simple plaques in front of them with the names of the scluptures. The Vietnam piece shook me hard. The piece itself was awesome but it was the make shift memorial that had sprung up that brought Dave and I both to tears, speechless and froze in place for I don't know how long. I'm going back for pictures .... no words will give this justice. I took my last "peace" charm and hung it next to a POW / MIA bracelet and prayed. There was a wall with names and I couldn't bring myself to go there .... next time. I'll be more prepared mentally. More ready to remember. We left and headed home ..... one of the quieter rides we've had in a long while. Tears being wiped from our faces ..... holding hands.
I woke up this morning with the realization that I can probably now find out what happened to my MIA .... Lt. Colonel Jeffrey C. Lemon. I googled him. He didn't come home.
LEMON, JEFFREY CHARLES "JEFF"
| Name: | Jeffrey Charles "Jeff" Lemon |  | |
| Rank/Branch: | Lieutenant Colonel/US Air Force | | |
| Unit: | 421st Tactical Fighter Squadron DaNang Airbase, South Vietnam | | |
| Date of Birth: | 13 August 1943 | | |
| Home of Record: | Flossmoor, IL | | |
| Date of Loss: | 25 April 1971 | | |
| Country of Loss: | Laos | ||
| Loss Coordinates: | 153700N 1065700E (YC090273) Click coordinates to view maps | | |
| Status in 1973: | Missing in Action | | |
| Category: | 2 | | |
| Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: | F4D “Phantom II” | | |
| Other Personnel In Incident: | Walter H. Sigafoos (missing) | | |
REMARKS:
SYNOPSIS: The McDonnell F4 Phantom used by Air Force, Marine and Navy air wings served a multitude of functions including fighter/bomber, interceptor, photo/electronic surveillance, and reconnaissance. The two man aircraft was extremely fast (mach 2) and had a long range, 900-2300 miles depending on stores and mission type. The F4 was also extremely maneuverable and handled well at low and high altitudes. It was selected for a number of state-of-the-art electronics conversions, which improved radar intercept and computer bombing capabilities enormously. Most pilots considered it one of the "hottest" planes around.
On 25 April 1971, then Capt. Jeffrey C. "Jeff" Lemon, pilot; and 1st Lt. Walter H. Sigafoos, Weapons Systems Officer; comprised the crew of an F4D (serial #66-7616), call sign "Gunfighter 14," that departed DaNang Airbase as the lead aircraft in a flight of two. Their mission was a night escort/strike mission to interdict enemy traffic moving along the infamous Ho Chi Minh Trail. Weather conditions at the time of loss were clear with no moon and approximately 2 miles visibility.
When North Vietnam began to increase its military strength in South Vietnam, NVA and Viet Cong troops again intruded on neutral Laos for sanctuary, as the Viet Minh had done during the war with the French some years before. This border road was used by the Communists to transport weapons, supplies and troops from North Vietnam into South Vietnam, and was frequently no more than a path cut through the jungle covered mountains. US forces used all assets available to them to stop this flow of men and supplies from moving south into the war zone.
Gunfighter flight proceeded to rendezvous with an AC119 gunship over their area of operation. After 30 minutes of escort duty, Gunfighter 14 departed the area to refuel from an airborne tanker. The flight returned to the target area approximately an hour later to relieve their wingman, Gunfighter 16, that was performing the same escort function for the gunship. Shortly thereafter the AC119 located an enemy truck traveling along Highway 165, a primary road running generally north/south through the rugged jungle covered mountains of eastern Laos located approximately 5 miles west of Tang Pong. Approximately 18 miles south of the target location, Highway 165 turns to the east and enters South Vietnam south of Kham Duc.
The gunship directed Capt. Lemon to strike the truck. In preparation for the airstrike, the gunship dropped a red flare to identify the target. The pilot briefed Gunfighter 14 to make either a north to south or south to north attack run on the truck. Capt. Lemon said he could not see the flare from the south and would proceed to the north. His Gunfighter 16 was orbiting the area at an altitude of 2,500 feet and his wingman noted he had difficulty in picking up the flare from any direction as he circled the area. The truck was traveling south through the heavily forested jungle with nearby hills reaching approximately 2,500 feet above the jungle canopy.
Gunfighter 14 contacted the gunship when it was north of the target stating that he and 1st Lt. Sigafoos had both the flare and the gunship in sight. Jeff Lemon initiated his first pass on the truck expending his MK-82 bombs. He also informed the other aircraft assigned to this mission that he intended to make another pass. On their second pass, the aircraft was seen by the gunship crew and their wingman to impact the ground and burn in the target area.
The location of loss was approximately 1½ miles north of Highway 165, 21 miles northeast of the city of Ban Phon, the same distance southwest of the Lao/South Vietnamese border and 54 miles north-northeast of Attopeu, Saravane Province, Laos. It was also roughly 57 miles west-northwest of Kham Duc, South Vietnam.
Upon seeing the fireball, Gunfighter 16 attempted to make radio contact with either Jeff Lemon or Walter Sigafoos on the assigned radio frequency as well as on guard channel with no response. Gunfighter 16 then notified King, the airborne search and rescue (SAR) aircraft, giving him the information that he believed his Lead aircraft to be down. SAR procedures were initiated immediately and all aircraft assigned to King flight arrive in the loss area shortly thereafter. Gunfighter 16 continued to orbit the crash site searching for any sign from the downed aircrew until he reached bingo fuel, the point at which he needed to depart the area in order to have enough fuel to safely return to base. During this time Gunfighter 16 was never able to make radio contact with Capt. Lemon or 1st Lt. Sigafoos before departing the area.
SAR efforts continued on 25 and 26 April, but were hampered by thunderstorms. Search operations were terminated on 27 April, and at that time both Jeff Lemon and Walter Sigafoos were listed Missing in Action.
In 1992, a National Security Agency (NSA) correlation study of all communist radio intercepts pertaining to missing Americans, which was presented to the Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs in a classified format, was finally declassified and made public. According to this document, 3 North Vietnamese radio messages were intercepted and correlated to this incident, 1 in April and 2 in May 1971. The NSA synopsis states: "(The) 16th AAA (anti-aircraft artillery) Battalion; (deleted word) at 1600G, two 37mm guns of Company 3 at the KM-72, struck an F4 flying, expending 10 rounds. Results: the F4 was hit and burst into flames. The (deleted word) pilot was killed, the pilot that parachuted was captured. (The) 16th AAA Battalion; (deleted word) the company shot the pilot while he was parachuting. The pilot is dead."
Capt. Lemon and 1st Lt. Sigafoos were among nearly 600 Americans who disappeared in Laos. Many of these men were known to be alive on the ground. The Lao admitted holding "tens of tens" of American Prisoners of War, but these men were never negotiated for either by direct negotiation between our countries or the Paris Peace Accords since Laos was not a party to that agreement.
If Jeffrey Lemon and Walter Sigafoos died in their loss incident, they have a right to have their remains returned to their families, friends and country. However, if either one or both men survived their loss, they most certainly would have been captured; and their fate, like that of other Americans who remain unaccounted for in Southeast Asia, could be quite different.
Since the end of the Vietnam War well over 21,000 reports of American prisoners, missing and otherwise unaccounted for have been received by our government. Many of these reports document LIVE American Prisoners of War remaining captive throughout Southeast Asia TODAY.
Fighter pilots in Vietnam and Laos were called upon to fly in many dangerous circumstances, and were prepared to be wounded, killed or captured. It probably never occurred to them that they could be abandoned by the country they so proudly served.
Jeffrey's mother, Mary Carol, was active with the National League of Families and lived in the suburbs outside Chicago until her death May 1, 2003.
Mary Carol Lemon, passed away after a relatively brief, but intense few weeks with heart problems and surgeries.
No date had been set for services, but she wished to be cremated and buried at Arlington National Cemetery with her husband, Charlie, whose death preceded hers by several years.
I'M PLEADING ..... BEGGING ..... AND I KNOW YOU ARE ALL TIRED OF HEARING IT .... I DON'T CARE ....
STOP THIS FUCKING MADNESS AND BRING HOME OUR TROOPS !!!!
PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE ........ WON'T SOMEONE WAKE THE FUCK UP ?????
Peace. Peace. Peace.
J.
