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Tags: airplane C-119 French Indo China McGovern Earthquake McGoon n1014f pilot

Length: 4:46

Description: A SMALL TRIBUTE TO A GREAT PATRIOT AVIATOR WASHINGTON (AFP)- The remains of a legendary CIA pilot shot down while dropping supplies to besieged French troops during the battle of Dien Bien Phu in Vietnam have been identified, the Pentagon said Wednesday. James McGovern Jr will be buried Thursday (May 24, 2007) with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery. The remains of a legendary CIA pilot shot down while dropping supplies to besieged French troops during the battle of Dien Bien Phu in Vietnam have been identified, the Pentagon said Wednesday. The remains of James McGovern Jr, known as "Earthquake McGoon," were returned to his family and he will be buried Thursday with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery, it said. A soldier of fortune, McGovern flew in China during World War II with the Flying Tigers and was credited with destroying two enemy aircraft in the air and five on the ground. He was captured by North Korea during the Korean war and was held as a prisoner of war for several months. In Vietnam he worked under contract for the CIA-owned Civil Air Transport. McGovern was killed May 6, 1954 on what was to be a final mission to air drop supplies to French forces holding out at Camp Isabelle during the battle of Dien Bien Phu, which France lost, leading to the end of its Indochina colony. He departed from Haiphong in a C-119 aircraft that belonged to the CIA-owned Civil Air Transport with his co-pilot, Wallace Buford, and four French military personnel. "As the aircraft approached the drop zone, it was hit by anti-aircraft fire," the Pentagon said in a statement. "The pilots attempted to fly southwest to the relative safety of Laos,but crashed along the Song(River)Ma in Houaphan Province." McGovern, Buford and two of the French military personnel were lost, but two Frenchmen survived the crash and were captured by Lao forces. One died within days, but the other was held for several months and released, according to the Pentagon. A joint US-Laotian military team visited the site of the wreck in 1997 and 1998, finding small fragments of aircraft wreckage but no graves. They returned in 2002 and excavated the site, recovering human remains from an isolated burial. Using dental comparisons and mitrochondrial DNA, scientists identified the remains as McGovern's.

Author: n1014f

Source: YouTube