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Name: Ronald Wayne Forrester
Rank/Branch: O2/US Marine Corps
Unit: VMA 533, MAG 15, 1st Marine Air Wing
Date of Birth: 15 March 1947
Home City of Record: Odessa TX
Date of Loss: 27 December 1972
Country of Loss: North Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 171500N 1064500E (XD985800)
Status (in 1973): Missing in Action
Category: 2
Acft/Vehicle/Ground: A6A
Other Personnel in Incident: Ralph J. Chipman (missing)
Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 15 October 1990 from one or
more of
the following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources,
correspondence with
POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews.
REMARKS: POSS DEAD/QUAN DOI NHAN DAN
SYNOPSIS: The Grumman A6 Intruder is an all weather, low-altitude,
carrier-based
attack plane. The A6A primarily flew close air support, all-weather and
night
attacks on enemy troop concentrations, and night interdiction missions.
Its
advanced navigation and attack system, known as DIANE (Digital
Integrated Attack
navigation Equipment) allowed small precision targets, such as bridges,
barracks
and fuel depots to be located and attacked in all weather conditions,
day or
night. The planes were credited with some of the most difficult
single-plane
strikes in the war, including the destruction of the Hai Duong bridge
between
Hanoi and Haiphong by a single A6. Their missions were tough, but their
crews
among the most talented and most courageous to serve the United States.
Capt. Ralph J. Chipman was the pilot of an Intruder assigned a mission
over
North Vietnam on December 27, 1972. His co-pilot on the flight was 1Lt.
Ronald
W. Forrester. The aircraft did not return from the mission, and last
contact was
made with the crew over the target area.
A subsequent article in Quan Doi Nhan Dan, a daily Vietnamese newspaper
described an aircraft downed by the Vietnamese. Apparently the pilot was
reported to be dead, and possibly the co-pilot as well. Although this
article
was thought to possibly relate to Chipman and Forrester, it was not
definite
enough for proof of death. Both men were classified Missing in Action.
It is
believed that the Vietnamese could account for them.
Forrester and Chipman are among nearly 2500 Americans who remained
missing from
the Vietnam war. Many experts, having seen the "several million"
documents
relating to Americans prisoner, missing or unaccounted for in Southeast
Asia,
believe that hundreds of these men are still alive in captivity today.
In our haste to leave Southeast Asia, we abandoned some of our best men.
Surprisingly, in 1990, overtures by many U.S. government officials hint
at
normalization of relations with Vietnam, yet no agreements have been
reached
which would free those Americans still held in Southeast Asia. In our
haste to
return to Indochina will we again abandon our men?
Ronald W. Forrester graduated from Texas A & M in 1969. He was promoted
to the
rank of Captain during the period he was maintained missing.
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.
If you'd like to see what some others are doing in addition to writing
their congressmen, senators and the Whitehouse, check out some of these
sites:
http://www.nidlink.com/~bettyz/miapow.html
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/2107/pow.html
http://www.sihope.com/~tipi/mia.html
http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/4585/mia.html
http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Downs/1472/mia.html
http://www.cyberramp.net/~grapho/story1.html
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/2519/mia.html
http://www.flash.net/~azgecko/mia.htm
http://www.mindspring.com/~jrcall/pages/mia.htm
http://www.netins.net/showcase/tommiles/powmia.html
http://www.radiks.net/kburris/please.htm
Another remarkable site is by an 11 year old angel who never even set
foot on American soil...She not only put up a page...she started a major
project for an organization of Kids on the Net called KeyPals
International.
Her MIA page is at [http://www.geocities.com/~angelicdevil/mia.html] but
don't miss her Bring Grandpa Home page at
[http://www.worldkids.net/clubs/kci/projects/Bring.html].
If you come away from that site without a lump in your throat, then you
just weren't paying attention.
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