THE WALL OF FACES

Dear MSGT Glen Oliver Lane, 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, Sir

Curt Carter

I wear Glen O Lane's MIA bracelet and will continue wearing it until he is brought home.

MASTER SERGEANT

GLEN OLIVER LANE

and

SERGEANT FIRST CLASS

ROBERT DUVAL OWEN


served with


COMMAND AND CONTROL, NORTH

MILITARY ASSISTANCE COMMAND, VIETNAM

STUDIES AND OBSERVATION GROUP

5th SPECIAL FORCES GROUP


Robert Duval Owen would have been called " gung-ho " by many.

At age 14 he lied about his age, enabling him to enter the the United States Army, until the Army learned his true age.

Owen later joined the Special Forces and was subsequently sent to Vietnam, where he was under orders to MACV-SOG in Command and Control, North as a reconnaissance patrol member.

Military Assistance Command Vietnam - Studies and Observation Group ( MACV-SOG ), was a joint service high command unconventional warfare task force engaged in highly classified operations throughout Southeast Asia.

The 5th Special Forces Group channeled personnel into MACV-SOG ( though it was not a Special Forces group ) through Special Operations Augmentation ( SOA ), which provided their " cover " while under secret orders to MACV-SOG.

These teams performed deep penetration missions of strategic reconnaissance and interdiction which were called, depending on the time frame, " SHINING BRASS " or " PRAIRIE FIRE " missions.

On 20 May 1968, Sergeant First Class Glen Oliver Lane and Staff Sergeant Robert Duval Owen were the only two U.S. members of the 6-man spike team " Idaho " assigned to infiltrate a denied area across the Lao border west of A Loui.

The team was inserted into the area by helicopter, and was heard from only once thereafter by a Forward Air Controller ( FAC ) about 1024 hours the same day.

All further contact with the patrol was lost.

The spike team " Oregon " was inserted into the same landing zone, and after finding a trail, searched about 50 meters from the area and noticed signs of a fire fight.

At that time, " Oregon " was attacked by an estimated company-sized enemy force and was extracted after suffering one killed and seven wounded.

There was no further ground search for Owen or Lane.

The 12 man team believed that the two had been either captured or killed.

When American POWs were released in 1973, neither Glen Oliver Lane nor Robert Duval Owen were among them.

Indeed, the agreements which ended the war in Southeast Asia did not include provision for the men held prisoner in Laos.

No treaty has been struck since that time for them.

Nearly 600 remain missing in Laos.





///// ~~~ MISSING IN ACTION ~~~ \\





YOU ARE NOT FORGOTTEN

NOR SHALL YOU EVER BE

I have not forgotten you. I chair the Adoption Committee for The National League of Families of Prisoners of War and Missing in Action in Southeast Asia. We will always remember the 1,889 Americans still unaccounted for in Southeast Asia and the thousands of others that lost their lives. We will not stop our efforts until all of you are home where you belong.

We need to reach the next generation so that they will carry on when our generation is no longer able. To do so, we are attempting to locate photographs of all the missing. If you are reading this remembrance and have a photo and/or memory of this missing American that you would like to share for our project, please contact me at:

Candace Lokey
PO Box 206
Freeport, PA 16229
[email protected]

If you are not familiar with our organization, please visit our web site at :

www.pow-miafamilies.org

(photo from page 5, Parade Magazine, May 30, 1993,
MIA FAMILIES WON'T GIVE UP, by AL SANTOLI )