THE WALL OF FACES

Information about Former POW and Medal of Honor recipient Captain Lance Peter Sijan, USAFA Class of 1965, from the Task Force Omega website is at this link:

http://taskforceomegainc.org/S135.html

Captain Lance Peter Sijan, Served with the 480th Tactical Fighter Squadron, 366th Tactical Fighter Wing, 7th Air Force.

On 9 November 1967, Lieutenant Colonel Armstrong and Lieutenant Lance P. Sijan were the crew on board a camouflaged F-4C, one in a flight of two aircraft on a combat operation over Khammouane Province. On their second pass over the target area, a ford in the area of Ban Laboy, their aircraft went through an estimated 60 rounds of 37mm anti aircraft barrage fire. Their aircraft burst into flames, climbed to approximately 9000 feet and then began to descend on a 15-20 second controlled flight before it crashed approximately one kilometer from Route 912.

There was burning throughout the night from the wreckage which landed in a sparsely populated karst area. There were no chute or beepers seen but something appeared to fall from the aircraft. On 11 November 1967, SAR forces established contact with Lieutenant Sijan who was alive on the ground, had a broken leg, and had not had any contact with Colonel Armstrong.

Lieutenant Sijan was never rescued but successfully evaded for 46 days before being captured by People's Army of Vietnam forces. He was taken to Hanoi where he died in captivity on 22 January 1968. While in captivity he related his belief that one of their bombs had exploded immediately upon release and this was the reason for their crash.

Also, he believed Colonel Armstrong was killed prior to ejection from the explosion of his aircraft's bomb. Lieutenant Sijan was listed as having died in captivity and his remains were repatriated in March 1974. He endured severe torture before dying in January 1968 at what the American POWs called the Hanoi Hilton.

Colonel Armstrong was not accounted for during Operation Homecoming and returning U.S. POWs had no information on his precise fate. In June 1974 he was declared dead/body not recovered, based on a presumptive finding of death.



INFO: www.faraway-soclose.org/armstrong.html
https://www.lancepsijanafa.org/lance-p-sijan/

Thank you for your Sacrifice. I will our out some Rakija for you next chance i get. Kosove Je Srbija.

Still wearing the bracelet with Lance's name that is a reminder every day of his sacrifice and ho his family has been deprived all these years without him as I have been when my father, Francis W.Blanchard was killed in WW2, Battle of the Bulge 1-24-1945.