HONORED ON PANEL 7W, LINE 39 OF THE WALL
ROBERT DOUGLAS HAUER
WALL NAME
ROBERT D HAUER
PANEL / LINE
7W/39
DATE OF BIRTH
CASUALTY PROVINCE
DATE OF CASUALTY
HOME OF RECORD
COUNTY OF RECORD
STATE
BRANCH OF SERVICE
RANK
STATUS
ASSOCIATED ITEMS LEFT AT THE WALL
REMEMBRANCES
LEFT FOR ROBERT DOUGLAS HAUER
POSTED ON 6.18.2025
POSTED BY: DAVID THOMPSON
POW/MIA BRACELET DISPLAY - PALM SPRINGS AIR MUSEUM
I am the Curator of the POW/MIA Bracelet Display in the Vietnam Hangar of the Palm Springs Air Museum in Palm Springs, California where we now have more than two thousand bracelets honoring POWs, MIAs and KIAs and would be honored to include your bracelet in our Display should you have one. If you no longer have your bracelet or wish to keep yours or are an immediate family member (spouse, fiancé, sibling, child, grandchild, cousin, niece, nephew, or close friend) I can order one for the Display in your name with funds donated by our Museum visitors.
Dr. Dave Thompson
Palm Springs Air Museum
POW/MIA Bracelet Display Curator
Lt. Commander U.S. Navy 1964-1970
10-103 Lakeview Dr. Rancho Mirage, Ca 92270
760-328-0859 760-464-6843 [email protected]
Dr. Dave Thompson
Palm Springs Air Museum
POW/MIA Bracelet Display Curator
Lt. Commander U.S. Navy 1964-1970
10-103 Lakeview Dr. Rancho Mirage, Ca 92270
760-328-0859 760-464-6843 [email protected]
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POSTED ON 3.27.2025
POSTED BY: [email protected]
Final Mission of Capt Robert D. Hauer
In 1967, the Cessna O-2A Skymaster was introduced as a replacement for the O-1 Bird Dog in the role of forward air control (FAC). The O-2A was a modified civilian Cessna 337 with an engine at each end of the fuselage. It carried more ordnance than the O-1, had more power, and was capable of longer loiter times. At 9:15 AM on September 5, 1970, pilot Capt Robert D. Hauer departed Cam Ranh Air Base in an O-2A (#68-10992) from the 19th Tactical Air Support Squadron on a tactical FAC mission over South Vietnam. The weather was broken clouds with ten miles of visibility. At 10:18 AM, after familiarizing himself with the target area, Hauer rendezvoused with a flight of fighter aircraft and directed an airstrike against a target approximately ten miles west of Khanh Hoa in Khanh Hoa Province. After completing the strike, the fighter aircraft departed. Hauer remained over the target area for a post-strike assessment. At 11:49 AM, he requested a time check from his controller as part of his required report every 20 minutes. At 12:09 PM, after failing to check in, a communications check was made with Hauer. When he failed to answer, a ramp search of nearby airfields was made with negative results. After Hauer failed to return to base at 3:15 PM, the time past fuel exhaustion, he was declared missing, and an organized search was initiated. Aircraft were diverted to the target area where a visual search was conducted until darkness. A U.S. Air Force AC-119 gunship maintained electronic surveillance throughout the night. The search resumed at first light employing extensive visual and electronic efforts throughout the area where Hauer may have proceeded. The terrain was mostly mountainous triple-canopy jungle which severely hampered visual search efforts. A ground search was out of the question due to the size of the search area. Search efforts were terminated at darkness on September 11th when no visual sightings were made or electronic beepers received. Hauer was placed in a status of missing. In March 1999, a joint U.S.-Socialist Republic of Vietnam team located evidence of an O-2A crash site 12 kilometers (7.4 miles) southwest of Duc My Airfield. While the crash site was correlated with Hauer’s missing Skymaster, no discernable human remains were recovered. [Sourced at coffeltdatabase.org and pleikuab.com]
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POSTED ON 5.29.2023
POSTED BY: Jack Crowley
55th Reunion 2
It hit me during our approach to reunion that I have had a good life since graduation but you were cut so very short.
A golf friend of mine who is also an Air Force pilot summed it up for me - "My F-16 unit was charged with the FAC-A mission, as well as Close Air Support. I assure you that your friend’s ethos burns brightly in our US Air Force combat units. Friday nights in a fighter squadron consisted of 2 sure things:
1. Get really drunk, and
2. Sing (dirty) songs. Many of these songs were about the heroism of FACs in Vietnam.
FACs lived their lives in harms way so our 18-year olds with rifles stood a better chance of returning home to mom and dad. (Some refer to it as “the Lord’s work”) Your friend, Bob/Bubba, dipped back under the weather to take one last look. Doesn’t sound like he needed to…but I’ll bet he knew that doing so could save some good-guy lives in the coming hours/days/weeks.
Sounds like a hero to me, Jack. Raising a glass to Bubba this Memorial Day.
Yes, raising a glass for you, Captain Hauer and I will go out of my way to laugh until the tears come down remembering our good times, but also your heroism.
I will always miss you.
Jack
A golf friend of mine who is also an Air Force pilot summed it up for me - "My F-16 unit was charged with the FAC-A mission, as well as Close Air Support. I assure you that your friend’s ethos burns brightly in our US Air Force combat units. Friday nights in a fighter squadron consisted of 2 sure things:
1. Get really drunk, and
2. Sing (dirty) songs. Many of these songs were about the heroism of FACs in Vietnam.
FACs lived their lives in harms way so our 18-year olds with rifles stood a better chance of returning home to mom and dad. (Some refer to it as “the Lord’s work”) Your friend, Bob/Bubba, dipped back under the weather to take one last look. Doesn’t sound like he needed to…but I’ll bet he knew that doing so could save some good-guy lives in the coming hours/days/weeks.
Sounds like a hero to me, Jack. Raising a glass to Bubba this Memorial Day.
Yes, raising a glass for you, Captain Hauer and I will go out of my way to laugh until the tears come down remembering our good times, but also your heroism.
I will always miss you.
Jack
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POSTED ON 5.29.2023
POSTED BY: Jack Crowley
This week is our 55th College Reunion
I miss you to this day, Bob. We were both from Brookline, MA and we loved football, but in our college days the rising of BC basketball under Head Coach Bob Cousy was our king. We were best friends in college.
We both had healthy senses of humor, and we coped with the craziness of the 60’s by trying to introduce levity into serious matters. But, of course, that was virtually impossible.
Both facing the Draft, you joined the Air Force and became a Forward Air Control Pilot (FAC) in Vietnam and I joined the Army, trained at Fort Dix NJ and Infantry OCS at Ft. Benning (now Ft. Moore), GA eventually being (by luck of the draw) assigned as a 1st Lieutenant to the 7th Infantry Division, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, Camp Casey, Tongduchon (TDC) [Dongducheon], South Korea, commanded by Major General Harold G. (Hal) Moore himself ("We Were Soldiers Once, and Young" - Ia Drang - The Battle That Changed the War in Vietnam). I was not in harm's way during my tour like you were.
When I learned you were MIA in September 1970, my Air Force (Vietnam Vets) pilot friends at Camp Casey informed me at the time that Air Force Intelligence indicated that your plane was shot down and seen plummeting into triple canopy jungle with no beeper detected, nor parachute observed.
How very sad and heartbreaking. You were and still are a true hero.
We both had healthy senses of humor, and we coped with the craziness of the 60’s by trying to introduce levity into serious matters. But, of course, that was virtually impossible.
Both facing the Draft, you joined the Air Force and became a Forward Air Control Pilot (FAC) in Vietnam and I joined the Army, trained at Fort Dix NJ and Infantry OCS at Ft. Benning (now Ft. Moore), GA eventually being (by luck of the draw) assigned as a 1st Lieutenant to the 7th Infantry Division, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, Camp Casey, Tongduchon (TDC) [Dongducheon], South Korea, commanded by Major General Harold G. (Hal) Moore himself ("We Were Soldiers Once, and Young" - Ia Drang - The Battle That Changed the War in Vietnam). I was not in harm's way during my tour like you were.
When I learned you were MIA in September 1970, my Air Force (Vietnam Vets) pilot friends at Camp Casey informed me at the time that Air Force Intelligence indicated that your plane was shot down and seen plummeting into triple canopy jungle with no beeper detected, nor parachute observed.
How very sad and heartbreaking. You were and still are a true hero.
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