THE WALL OF FACES

I have the POW bracelet with your name on it. I have often wonder what happened to you. Let me say that I THANK YOU for your service. One day I will stop by your grave and pay my respect in person.

Thank you for your service to our country so long ago sir. The remembrance from your daughter is especially touching. As long as you are remembered you will always be with us.

Lieutenant Colonel James Henry Ayres, Served with the 34th Tactical Fighter Squadron, 388th Tactical Fighter Wing, 7th Air Force.

DEAR LIEUTENANT COLONEL AYRES,
THANKS FOR YOUR SERVICE AS A PILOT. I AM HAPPY YOU WERE FOUND. WELCOME HOME. WE ARE CELEBRATING EUROPEANS FINDING THIS WONDERFUL LAND. THANK YOU FOR DEFENDING IT. REST IN PEACE.

On January 3, 1971, a flight of two aircraft departed Korat Airbase Thailand for an operational mission over Laos. Both aircraft were the reconnaissance version of the F-4E Phantom fighter bomber aircraft. The crew aboard the lead aircraft was pilot MAJ James H. Ayres and weapons systems officer CAPT Charles W. Stratton. During the mission, which took the flight over Savannakhet Province, Laos, Ayres' aircraft was seen to crash and explode in a ball of fire prior to its second pass over the target area. No parachutes were observed, and no emergency radio beeper signals were detected. The loss occurred about 8 miles southeast of the city of Ban Muong Sen. Hostile activity in the area prevented search and rescue attempts. In 2001, a joint U.S./Lao People's Democratic Republic (L.P.D.R.) team, led by the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC), traveled to Savannakhet Province and interviewed Laotian citizens about their knowledge of aircraft crash sites. One of the men led the team to what was believed to be the Ayres and Stratton crash site. Later that year, another U.S./L.P.D.R team began excavating the site. The team recovered human remains and aircrew-related items. Between 2002 and 2005, joint teams visited the site six more times to complete the excavation, recovering more human remains and crew-related items. Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from JPAC and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory also used mitochondrial DNA in the identification of the remains. [Taken from pownetwork.org]