Donald Joe Hall (E5/US Air Force)

SYNOPSIS

On February 6, 1967, Capt. Lucius L. Heiskell was a pilot and was flying an O1F aircraft on a visual reconnaissance mission with another O1F when his aircraft was struck by enemy fire forcing him to bail out. His parachute was followed to the ground and voice contact with him indicated that immediate rescue was not feasible due to enemy troops in the area.

Beeper signals continued and later an HH3E helicopter flown by Maj. Patrick H. Wood was dispatched to recover Heiskell. He was at this time located near the border of Laos and North Vietnam about 5 miles from the Mu Gia Pass. Wood's crew that day included Capt. Richard A. Kibbey and SSgt. Donald J. Hall.

Heiskell was hoisted aboard, but as the helicopter was departing the area, it was hit by ground fire causing it to explode and crash. The helicopter pararescueman survived and was treated for burns. The remainder of the crew, Hall, Kibbey and Wood, as well as Heiskell, were not located. Whether Hall and the crew of the HH3E survived the crash of their aircraft to be captured is not known. It is not known if they might be among those thought to be still alive today. What is certain, however, is that as long as even one American remains alive, held against his will, we owe him our very best efforts to bring him to freedom. When 591 Americans were released in 1973, the crew of the HH3E was not among them. They were numbered with nearly 3000 Americans who remained missing, prisoner, or unaccounted for at the end of the war.

Since American involvement in Vietnam ended in 1975, over 10,000 reports relating to Americans missing, prisoner, or otherwise unaccounted for in Indochina have been received by the U.S. Government. Many officials, having examined this largely classified information, have reluctantly concluded that many Americans are still alive today, held captive by our long-ago enemy.

Donald J. Hall was promoted to the rank of Chief Master Sergeant during the period he was maintained Missing in Action. I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to keep pushing this issue inside the Beltway...The need to get specific answers is more important now than ever before. If still alive, some MIAs are now in their 70s...They don't have much time left.

We have to demand the answers from the bureaucrats and keep standing on their necks (figuratively speaking) until they get the message that THEY work for US and that we are serious about getting these long overdue responses. Diplomatic considerations aside...We can no longer allow questionable protocols established by pseudo-aristocratic armchair strategists, to determine or influence the fate of the men who were in the trenches while the diplomats were sharing sherry and canapes and talking about "Their Plans" for the future of SE Asia.

Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 15 March 1991 from one or more of the following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews. Copyright 1991 Homecoming II Project.