BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//archive.cryptologicfoundation.org//NONSGML kigkonsult.se iCalcrea
tor 2.30.10//
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
METHOD:PUBLISH
UID:5f515b61-0702-4929-9541-b89e150a5f88
X-WR-CALDESC:5 February 1969: USAF EC-47\, 'CAP 72\,' was lost in Vietnam.
\n\nThe NCMF website contains a great amount of information about CAP 72 a
nd Paul and Nita Clever's efforts via MRSEA: Maximum Recovery in Southe
ast Asia to at last bring home and lay to rest the remains of the crew
of this plane that included Paul's father\, TSgt Louis Clever. And now th
e MRSEA recovery efforts continue as they seek to bring home others who we
re lost in Southeast Asia.\n\nPLEASE VISIT the links AT THE END of this
article to various pages and articles on our site that contain informatio
n\, documents\, video links\, and links to news articles. There are also u
pdates from Paul Clever about MRSEA's continuing recovery missions.\n
\nOn February 5\, 1969\, an American EC-47Q aircraft on a classified comba
t mission (call sign CAP 72) departed Pleiku Air Base\, Republic of Vietna
m (RVN)\, with five 6994th Security Squadron personnel and five 362nd Tact
ical Electronic Warfare Squadron crew members on board. Moving to within t
wenty miles of Ubon Airfield\, Thailand\, the aircraft circled back into L
aos on a southeastern heading\, passing the city of Saravane\, Laos. Commu
nication with the aircraft reported all conditions normal. After that exch
ange\, all attempts to make contact with the aircraft failed. Search effor
ts found no trace of the aircraft or its crew — CAP 72 had vanished.\n\nTh
e members of this ill-fated mission along with their crew positions were:
MSgt Wilton Hatton (Flight Engineer)\, Sgt James Dorsey (Operator)\, Capt
Walter Burke (Copilot)\, Maj Homer Lynn (Pilot)\, Lt Col Harry Niggle (Sec
ond Navigator)\, Sgt Rodney Gott (Operator)\, A1C Clarence McNeill (Operat
or)\, SSgt Louis J. Clever (Operator)\, Maj Robert Olson (Navigator)\, and
SSgt Hugh Sherburn (Operator).\n\nFour months after the loss\, a CAS team
located and recovered evidence linking a site to the CAP 72 loss. They al
so collected approximately 30 lbs of comingled skeletal remains. Petitions
made to return to the site were denied. When the remains finally arrived
at Dover AFB mortuary\, another analysis indicated the remains of five cre
w members. The interment of the Cap 72 remains was ordered\, citing that e
vidence of death had been received. Though a burial took place in 1969\, m
any of the families of the crew felt cheated out of the evidence needed to
support closure.\n\nIn 1995\, a JPAC team stumbled on the site and found
the dog tag of the EC-47's copilot and more human remains. Those remains w
ere sent to the US for DNA analysis.\n\nIn 2011 Paul Clever\, son of EC-47
crew member TSgt Louis Clever\, started the organization MRSEA: Maximu
m Recovery in Southeast Asia with the specific mission of finding\, ma
rking\, and excavating the wreckage of CAP 72 to insure a determined effor
t has been made towards achieving “maximum recover” of crewmember remains.
\n\nMaximum Recovery in South East Asia (MRSEA)\, led by Paul Clever and
his wife\, Nita\, took ownership of driving the accounting for the crew of
the EC-47Q. A Search and Recovery Mission was executed in December 2012 t
o Southern Laos\, and it was during this mission when more remains of the
crew were recovered and returned to the United States. DNA analysis of the
remains indicated that in addition to two others\, Paul had in fact broug
ht home his father. \n\nPaul Clever's father\, TSgt Louis Clever was laid
to rest in May 2015. See the link below to watch a video tribute to TSgt L
ouis Clever.\n\nAfter three long and emotional years of hard work as part
of MRSEA: Maximum Recovery in Southeast Asia\, Paul and Nita Clever's reco
very mission to Thailand helped bring home a crew whose plane went down de
cades ago. \n\nThe remains buried at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery
in Missouri were disinterred in February 2013 for DNA testing to try to de
termine which of the crew had been returned home. These remains were repat
riated on May 25\, 2013 in Olive Branch\, MS. This event was open to the g
eneral public to experience this seldom seen and memorable ceremony to hon
or and remember these heroes who made the supreme sacrifice for the libert
ies we enjoy.\n\nLarry Tart has produced a video of the May 25 repatria
tion ceremony which can be viewed on YouTube (see link below).\n\nAfte
r DNA analysis was complete on all returned remains\, 7 of the 10 crew mem
bers were identified. Of the remaining three\, one family had identificati
on via the found dog tag. Unfortunately\, the family of the other two crew
members will likely never recover any remains of their loved one.\n\nT
he five USAFSS members of the crew have been honored by their names being
placed on the NSA's Memorial Wall (see link below).\n\nExhibits Fea
turing the EC-47\nWhen visiting the National Cryptologic Museum\, reme
mber to explore the airborne reconnaissance display\, featuring\, among ot
her items\, information about EC-47 crew losses in Vietnam. There is also
an ARDF exhibit at Goodfellow AFB that was dedicated in 2014. When you are
there\, make sure to purchase one of the commemorative EC-47 coins sold b
y the AF Freedom Through Vigilance Heritage Association.\n\n
X-WR-RELCALID:fff95a08970921fa385a78dc612399b0
X-WR-TIMEZONE:America/New_York
BEGIN:VTIMEZONE
TZID:America/New_York
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZNAME:EST
DTSTART:20251102T020000
TZOFFSETFROM:-0400
TZOFFSETTO:-0500
RDATE:20261101T020000
END:STANDARD
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZNAME:EDT
DTSTART:20250309T020000
TZOFFSETFROM:-0500
TZOFFSETTO:-0400
RDATE:20260308T020000
RDATE:20270314T020000
END:DAYLIGHT
END:VTIMEZONE
BEGIN:VEVENT
UID:28ec19c5-162d-4038-ad02-a21b173464f3
DTSTAMP:20260424T093827Z
DESCRIPTION:5 February 1969: USAF EC-47\, 'CAP 72\,' was lost in Vietnam.
\n\nThe NCMF website contains a great amount of information about CAP 72 a
nd Paul and Nita Clever's efforts via MRSEA: Maximum Recovery in Southe
ast Asia to at last bring home and lay to rest the remains of the crew
of this plane that included Paul's father\, TSgt Louis Clever. And now th
e MRSEA recovery efforts continue as they seek to bring home others who we
re lost in Southeast Asia.\n\nPLEASE VISIT the links AT THE END of this
article to various pages and articles on our site that contain informatio
n\, documents\, video links\, and links to news articles. There are also u
pdates from Paul Clever about MRSEA's continuing recovery missions.\n
\nOn February 5\, 1969\, an American EC-47Q aircraft on a classified comba
t mission (call sign CAP 72) departed Pleiku Air Base\, Republic of Vietna
m (RVN)\, with five 6994th Security Squadron personnel and five 362nd Tact
ical Electronic Warfare Squadron crew members on board. Moving to within t
wenty miles of Ubon Airfield\, Thailand\, the aircraft circled back into L
aos on a southeastern heading\, passing the city of Saravane\, Laos. Commu
nication with the aircraft reported all conditions normal. After that exch
ange\, all attempts to make contact with the aircraft failed. Search effor
ts found no trace of the aircraft or its crew — CAP 72 had vanished.\n\nTh
e members of this ill-fated mission along with their crew positions were:
MSgt Wilton Hatton (Flight Engineer)\, Sgt James Dorsey (Operator)\, Capt
Walter Burke (Copilot)\, Maj Homer Lynn (Pilot)\, Lt Col Harry Niggle (Sec
ond Navigator)\, Sgt Rodney Gott (Operator)\, A1C Clarence McNeill (Operat
or)\, SSgt Louis J. Clever (Operator)\, Maj Robert Olson (Navigator)\, and
SSgt Hugh Sherburn (Operator).\n\nFour months after the loss\, a CAS team
located and recovered evidence linking a site to the CAP 72 loss. They al
so collected approximately 30 lbs of comingled skeletal remains. Petitions
made to return to the site were denied. When the remains finally arrived
at Dover AFB mortuary\, another analysis indicated the remains of five cre
w members. The interment of the Cap 72 remains was ordered\, citing that e
vidence of death had been received. Though a burial took place in 1969\, m
any of the families of the crew felt cheated out of the evidence needed to
support closure.\n\nIn 1995\, a JPAC team stumbled on the site and found
the dog tag of the EC-47's copilot and more human remains. Those remains w
ere sent to the US for DNA analysis.\n\nIn 2011 Paul Clever\, son of EC-47
crew member TSgt Louis Clever\, started the organization MRSEA: Maximu
m Recovery in Southeast Asia with the specific mission of finding\, ma
rking\, and excavating the wreckage of CAP 72 to insure a determined effor
t has been made towards achieving “maximum recover” of crewmember remains.
\n\nMaximum Recovery in South East Asia (MRSEA)\, led by Paul Clever and
his wife\, Nita\, took ownership of driving the accounting for the crew of
the EC-47Q. A Search and Recovery Mission was executed in December 2012 t
o Southern Laos\, and it was during this mission when more remains of the
crew were recovered and returned to the United States. DNA analysis of the
remains indicated that in addition to two others\, Paul had in fact broug
ht home his father. \n\nPaul Clever's father\, TSgt Louis Clever was laid
to rest in May 2015. See the link below to watch a video tribute to TSgt L
ouis Clever.\n\nAfter three long and emotional years of hard work as part
of MRSEA: Maximum Recovery in Southeast Asia\, Paul and Nita Clever's reco
very mission to Thailand helped bring home a crew whose plane went down de
cades ago. \n\nThe remains buried at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery
in Missouri were disinterred in February 2013 for DNA testing to try to de
termine which of the crew had been returned home. These remains were repat
riated on May 25\, 2013 in Olive Branch\, MS. This event was open to the g
eneral public to experience this seldom seen and memorable ceremony to hon
or and remember these heroes who made the supreme sacrifice for the libert
ies we enjoy.\n\nLarry Tart has produced a video of the May 25 repatria
tion ceremony which can be viewed on YouTube (see link below).\n\nAfte
r DNA analysis was complete on all returned remains\, 7 of the 10 crew mem
bers were identified. Of the remaining three\, one family had identificati
on via the found dog tag. Unfortunately\, the family of the other two crew
members will likely never recover any remains of their loved one.\n\nT
he five USAFSS members of the crew have been honored by their names being
placed on the NSA's Memorial Wall (see link below).\n\nExhibits Fea
turing the EC-47\nWhen visiting the National Cryptologic Museum\, reme
mber to explore the airborne reconnaissance display\, featuring\, among ot
her items\, information about EC-47 crew losses in Vietnam. There is also
an ARDF exhibit at Goodfellow AFB that was dedicated in 2014. When you are
there\, make sure to purchase one of the commemorative EC-47 coins sold b
y the AF Freedom Through Vigilance Heritage Association.\n\n
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260205T060000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260205T060001
LOCATION:
SUMMARY:1969: USAF EC-47: CAP 72 lost in Vietnam
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR