THE WALL OF FACES

POW-MIA...Never Forget.

HOOAH

Dear Maj John Welshan, Thank you for your service as a Supersonic Fighter-Bomber Pilot. You are still MIA. Please come home. Saying thank you isn't enough, but it is from the heart. Advent has begun. Time passes quickly. Please watch over America, it stills needs your strength, courage, guidance, and faithfulness, especially now. Be at peace.

Never forget.

HOOAH

Thank you for your service and your sacrifice. Thank you for stepping up and answering your country's call. Rest easy knowing you will never be forgotten.

Cessna's A37 "Dragonfly" was a two-seat light strike aircraft. Although the B version was equipped for aerial refueling, the earlier A model was restricted to its fully-armed range of about 450 miles. The easily maintained jet was flown by both the U.S. and South Vietnamese Air Force and remained on station in Vietnam until the fall of Saigon in 1975. 1LT John T. Welshan was a pilot trained on the Dragonfly and attached to the 604th Air Commando Squadron at Bien Hoa Airbase in South Vietnam. On March 3, 1968, Welshan was assigned a frag mission in Bac Lieu Province, South Vietnam. (NOTE: Air Force accounts of Welshan's incident do not refer to a second crew member. As this type aircraft is a two-seater, it is speculated that the second crew member may have been Vietnamese. The U.S. does not normally maintain any records on the identities of foreign nationals lost with U.S. personnel in Southeast Asia.) 1LT Welshan's aircraft did not return from the mission at the appointed time, and he was declared Missing in Action. His last location is listed as being approximately 5 miles south of the city of Bac Lieu, near the shoreline of South Vietnam. 1LT Welshan was maintained missing until July 15, 1975, at which time he was administratively declared dead based on no specific information that he was alive. He had been advanced to the rank of Major during the period he was maintained missing. [Narrative taken from pownetwork.org; image from courtesyaircraft.com]