THE WALL OF FACES

To the Danielson Family:

Veterans Day 2016 has passed by but I wanted to let you know that Captain Danielson was NOT forgotten.

At Vietnam I was lucky to know of him and later have met his son Ben at a 12 Tac Fighter Wing Association Reunion.

Asking God to shower your family with many blessings in the days ahead.

You were one of the brave that answered the call. You honored us by your service and sacrifice. We now honor you each time we stand and sing the words “THE LAND OF THE FREE AND THE HOME OF THE BRAVE”. Rest in Peace and Honor Ben.

CAPT Benjamin F. Danielson was the pilot of the number two aircraft in a flight of two F-4Cs on an operational mission over Laos. Captain Danielson and his navigator 1LT Woodrow J. Bergeron Jr. departed Cam Ranh Bay Air Base, South Vietnam at 10:00 a.m. on December 5, 1969. At about 11:30 a.m., while pulling up from a dive, the aircraft was hit by hostile ground fire. Two ejection seats and two parachutes were observed leaving the plane, and two emergency radio beeper signals were received. The two landed 100 feet apart on each side of a river. Voice contact was established with both men on the ground, who reported that they were in good shape. Six separate rescue attempts were made on that day, but each was aborted when it came under heavy ground fire. Search and rescue attempts continued for 12 hours. The navigator saw Danielson twice that day and talked with him on the radio all day and night. Danielson and the navigator had worked out a signal system that if one man beeped the other, it meant not to call on the radio because the enemy was close enough to hear radio chatter. Forty-five minutes after first light on December 6, Danielson beeped the navigator once. It is believed that the enemy found Danielson's position at this time. There was no further beeper or radio contact from Ben for about an hour, and then the beeper went off and stayed active until the batteries would have run down. Heavy ground fire prevented the navigator from being rescued until noon on December 7. Danielson, at that time, was not found. Danielson was last seen about 1 mile southwest of Ban Phanop, Laos. This was the largest search and rescue effort during the Vietnam War, involving 15 attempts before Bergeron was found. Each of these efforts was driven off by intense ground fire, which heavily damaged several aircraft and killed a door gunner on one of the rescue helicopters. Heavy enemy presence in the loss location prevented further efforts to locate Danielson. Between 1993 and 2006, the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) led seven joint and two unilateral investigations in Vietnam, four joint investigations in Laos, one trilateral investigation and one excavation. Team members found aircraft wreckage consistent with an F-4 at the crash site, but found no human remains or evidence of a burial along the river. In 2003, Danielson’s identification tags, a survival knife, a portion of a survival vest and human remains were turned over to U.S. officials. They were said to be obtained from a Laotian source who found them while fishing along the banks of the Nam Ngo River. Although an excavation conducted near the river in 2006 yielded no remains or evidence of a burial, JPAC used other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence in Danielson’s identification. Scientists from the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory also used mitochondrial DNA to help identify the remains previously turned in by the Laotian source. [Taken from pownetwork.org]

THE WAR MAY BE FORGOTTEN BUT THE WARRIOR WILL ALWAYS BE REMEMBERED!!!! REST IN PEACE BENJAMIN.

Dear Captain Benjamin Frankl Danielson, sir

As an American, I would like to thank you for your service and for your sacrifice made on behalf of our wonderful country. The youth of today could gain much by learning of heroes such as yourself, men and women whose courage and heart can never be questioned.

May God allow you to read this, and may He allow me to someday shake your hand when I get to Heaven to personally thank you. May he also allow my father to find you and shake your hand now to say thank you; for America, and for those who love you.

With respect, and the best salute a civilian can muster for you, Sir

Curt Carter