Gary Fors

[Arrow]

The following information was compiled by the Homecoming II project with the assistance of one or more of the following: raw data from several U.S Government sources, correspondence with POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews

Date compiled, January 1, 1990
Gary H. Fors
03/US Marine Corps
VMFA 122, MAG 11[/color]
DOB: 4/29/41
Home City of Record: Puyallup Washington
Date of Loss: December 22, 1967
Country of Loss: LAOS
Loss Coordinate: 161433N, 1065607E
(YC080970)
Status in (1973) MISSING IN ACTION

Synopsis: the Phantom, used by the Air Force, Marine and Navy Air Wings, served a multitude of
functions including fighter-bomber and interceptor, photo and electronic surveillance.
The two man aircraft was extremely fast (MACH 2), and had a long range (900 - 2300 miles, depending on stores and mission type). The F-4 was also extremely maneuverable and handled well at low and high altitudes. The F-4 was selected for a number of state of the art electronics conversions, which mproved radar intercept and computer bombing capabilities enormously. Most pilots considered it one of the "hottest" planes around. Captain Gary H. Fors was the pilot, and Lt. Gary Lashlee his weapons systems operator when the two led an attack mission over Laos in their F-4B Phantom. At about 5 miles inside Laos in northern Saravane Province, Fors' aircraft was hit and he and Lashlee ejected. Lashlee, the first to eject and still drifting towards the ground, observed Fors as he parachuted safely to the ground near the crash site of the aircraft. As Fors was landing on the ground, communist troops were approaching. Lashlee drifted further away, and he could not determine what happened next. The Marine Corps concluded that Fors probably had been captured. Lt. Gary Lashlee drifted and was rescued within the half hour.

[Arrow]

In 1969, Fors family identified him in pictures of

captured servicemen. The military first ruled that the photo as unrecognizable, then agreed with an Air Force POW who, after his release in 1973, said it was a picture of himself.

In 1972, a Pathlet Lao defector reported that he had seen someone who looked like Captain Gary H. Fors chained near a limestone cave in Laos. A photograph of a POW in captivity was correlated to Fors by CIA in 1973.

In 1980, a Seattle refugee resident named Boukeva Phavavout said that in 1976, after his own capture by communist soldiers the year before, he saw five Americans imprisoned in a cave near the site where Fors was shot down. Fors is one of nearly 600

Americans who were left behind in Laos. Even though the Pathet Lao stated publicly that they held "ten of tens" of American prisoners, these men were not negotiated for in the Paris Peace Accords which

resulted in the release of 591 Americans from Viet Nam. Nearly 10,000 reports such as those on Gary Fors have been received by the US Government since American involvement in Indochina ended in 1975, yet US policy continues to be that there is not

actionable evidence that any Americans are still alive. Many authorities disagree, believing that there are hundreds of Americans still alive and being held

unjustly and against their will in Southeast Asia. Gary Fors could be one of those thought to still be alive. If so, what must he be thinking of us?

(Robert Dunaway once told me that there was a story in a local paper in the Seattle area that Gary at one point was seen trying to leave with his Laotian family but was turned back at the border.) God Bless Him. And Robert too.