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Other Personnel in Incident: Captain Lance P. Sijan (Died in Captivity, Remains returned)
Then Lt. Col. John W. Armstrong was the Commander of the 480th Tactical Fighter Squadron based at DaNang Airbase, South Vietnam.
On 9 November 1967, Lt. Col. Armstrong, pilot; and Capt. Lance P. Sijan, co-pilot; comprised the crew of an F4C, call sign "AWOL 01," that departed their base as the lead aircraft in a flight of two. They were on a Forward Air Control strike mission against enemy targets along a portion of the infamous Ho Chi Minh Trail located in extremely rugged jungle covered mountains approximately 35 miles southwest of Dong Hoi, North Vietnam; 3 miles northwest of Ban Loboy and 5 miles southwest of the Lao/North Vietnamese border, Khammouan Province, Laos. This area of eastern Laos was considered a major artery of the infamous Ho Chi Minh Trail. 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.
At 2045 hours, on the second pass over the target, the aircraft was hit by hostile fire, was seen to burst into flames and began to climb to approximately 10,000 feet, then rapidly descend and crash into the dense jungle below.
No parachutes were seen in the darkness and no emergency beepers heard. Search and rescue (SAR) efforts were immediately initiated and voice contact was established with Lance Sijan almost immediately. No contact could be established with Lt. Col. Armstrong.
Because of heavy enemy activity around the crash site, SAR personnel were unable to reach Capt. Sijan and were unable to locate any sign of Lt. Col. Armstrong. At the time formal search efforts were terminated, both John Armstrong and Lance Sijan were listed Missing in Action. Lance Sijan was badly injured in his low-level bailout from the damaged Phantom.
Even with his extensive injuries, he was able to evade capture for 45 days. North Vietnamese troops found him on Christmas Day lying unconscious next to the road that had been their target and only 3 miles from where he had been shot down. He died in captivity on 22 January 1968 - approximately 8 days after reaching Hanoi and two weeks after being captured.
On 13 March 1974, Lance Sijan's remains, along with the headstone used to mark his grave in North Vietnam, were returned to the United States. Further, Lance Peter Sijan was awarded this nation's highest decoration for valor, the Congressional Medal of Honor, for his fierce resistance during interrogation and determination to resist his captures and escape captivity in spite of his emaciated and crippled condition. Before his death, Capt. Sijan was held in a cell with two other Americans. He recounted the circumstances surrounding their shootdown to them, but unfortunately, he could shed no light on the fate of Lt. Col. John Armstrong before he died.
The National Security Agency (NSA), however, intercepted enemy radio transmissions and correlated information which confirmed that John Armstrong, who would be a prize catch for the communists because of his background and position, was known captured alive in Laos. According to these reports, NSA documented that he was interviewed by a Soviet war correspondent. Much later, a Pathet Lao defector, who claimed to have been a prison camp guard, stated that in 1977 he had been guarding several Americans. According to his report, one was named "Armstrong". However, the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) states they place no validity in this report.
Vietnam War/Counteroffensive Phase III Campaign (1967-68)
From Month/Year
June / 1967
To Month/Year
January / 1968
Description This period was from March 9, 1967-March 31, 1968. On March 10, 1967. Seventh Air Force F-105s and F-4s bombed a new target. the Thai Nguyen iron and steel plant. 30 miles north of Hanoi. The Rou.mo Tnuuoaa bombing campaign continued with strikes against bridges. petroleum storage. cement plants. and power transformer stations near Hanoi. USAF and naval aircraft also conducted armed reconnaissance over most of North Vietnam. Missions against major supply routes from China targeted railroad yards. repair facilities. bridges. and support areas. Early in August 1967 American air attacks against the Paul Doutner Bridge in I-lanoi knocked out the center span. Poor weather in the first 3 months of I968 forced U.S. aircraft to rely almost exclusively on all-weather bombing techniques in North Vietnam; nevertheless. the Paul Doumer Bridge remained unusable most of the time. While overland routes might be interdicted. Haiphong harbor and docks still remained off limits to U.S.
pilots. A continuous flow of supplies moved through the port from the People's Republic of China and the Soviet Union, which largely
offset North Vietnam's losses.
U.S. aircraft used electronic countermeasures and other techniques to limit the effectiveness of North Vietnam's antiaircraft defenses. North Vietnamese forces fired 55 SAM: on the average for each U.S. aircraft destroyed. To reduce the threat of a resurgent North Vietnamese Air Force. in April 1967 the United States bombed MiG bases. destroying several jet aircraft on the ground. In aerial combat during the first 6 months of 1967 (primarily in April. May. and June). U.S. pilots destroyed 54 MiGs while losing ll aircraft. But between August 1967 and February 1968. the United States lost l8 aircraft to MiGs while destroying only 5 enemy aircraft. On January 14, 1968. two MiGs shot down an EB-66 that was jamming enemy radars from an orbit 90 miles from Hanoi. The USAF subsequently used the vulnerable EB-66s in already established orbits over Laos and the Gulf of Tonkin. accepting degradation of jamming to lessen the risks of aerial interception.
On April 6, 1967. the North Vietnam Anny and Viet Cong forces attacked Quang Tri. the northemmost provincial capital. 20 miles south of the demilitarized zone. To counter the offensive. on May 18 South Vietnamese and U.S. troops entered the DMZ for the first time. USAF B-52s. tactical air forces. and naval and army artillery strikes combined with Allied ground forces to destroy temporarily NVA strength in the zone. The NVA then shifted its artillery positions north of the DMZ. rebuilt its forces in the area. and on September l renewed attacks on the U.S. Marine base at Con 11tien. Immediately South of the DMZ. With forward air controllers pinpointing artillery and other targets, the USAF began an aerial attempt to destroy enemy positions. and by October 4 the North Vietnam Anny had been forced to withdraw once again.
Shortly afterward. in November 1967, U.S. forces conducting search and destroy operations in the Central Highlands encountered strong Viet Cong resistance near Dalt To. I5 miles east of the border junction between Laos. Cambodia. and the Republic of Vietnam. Tactical aircraft and B-52s provided close air support while USAF C-130s flew supplies and reinforcements to the Dak To airstrip. U.S. air-power inflicted heavy casualties. and the enemy withdrew on November 24.
In the Laotian part of the conflict. during the summer of 1967, Seventh Air Force provided extensive air support to Laotian troops battling the Pathet Lao and North Vietnamese forces on the Plain of Jars near Luang Prabang. The I-lo Chi Minh Trail in the Laotian panhandle also came under constant attack. Between December 1967 and February 1968. Seventh Air Force pilots flew over 20.000 sorties against transportation lines in Laos and claimed destruction of more than 3.000 trucks. But the Communists continued to build up forces in Laos and Cambodia in preparation for a major offensive that began on January 21. 1968. when the NVA surrounded and laid siege to Khe Sanh. a U.S. Marine base in a valley 7 miles east of the Laotian border and 15 miles south of the demilitarized zone.
