Purple Heart courtesy
of John P. Lorf
US Marine Retired
Purple Heart courtesy
of John P. Lorf
US Marine Retired
Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project with the assistance of one or more of the following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews. Date Compiled: 1 March 1990
REMARKS: CRASH FND - NO PARBEEP - NO PERS - J
SYNOPSIS: The Grumman A6 Intruder is a two-man all weather, low-altitude, carrier-based attack plane, with versions adapted as aerial tanker and electronic warfare platform. The A6A primarily flew close-air-support, all-weather and night attacks on enemy troop concentrations, and night interdiction missions. Its advanced navigation and attack system, known as DIANE (Digital Integrated Attack navigation Equipment) allowed small precision targets, such as bridges, barracks and fuel depots to be located and attacked in all weather conditions, day or night. The planes were credited with some of the most difficult single-plane strikes in the war, including the destruction of the Hai Duong bridge between Hanoi and Haiphong by a single A6. Their missions were tough, but their crews among the most talented and most courageous to serve the United States.
On April 17, 1967, Major James M. McGarvey, pilot, and Capt. James E. Carlton, Jr., systems operator, were assigned a mission against a well defended target located approximately twenty miles southeast of Vinh, Nghe An Province, North Vietnam. At 11:12 p.m., during McGarvey's attack run, the aircraft trailing McGarvey's by approximately eight miles reported seeing a brilliant orange flash mushrooming from the area of the lead aircraft, after which no radio contact could be established with the aircraft. Search and rescue operations were initiated and lasted until April 26, 1967, with negative results. Both McGarvey and Carlton were declared Missing in Action.
Throughout the war, the McGarvey and Carlton families waited, knowing it was possible that their men had been captured, even though they heard no word of either of them. At the end of the war, however, when 591 Americans were released from POW camps, McGarvey and Carlton were not among them. The Vietnamese denied any knowledge of them.
It is unlikely that the aircraft carrying McGarvey and Carlton was sighted, shot down, exploded into a brilliant orange flash and crashed in a heavily defended area without being detected by the Vietnamese. It is unlikely that no information is available on their fates, although the Vietnamese continue to deny knowledge of them.
Since the war ended, nearly 10,000 reports have been received by the U.S. Government related to Americans missing in Southeast Asia. The Vietnamese protests that they know nothing are mocked by the reports of their own fleeing countrymen. Many authorities now believe that there are still a large number of Americans alive in Southeast Asia, still held prisoner. McGarvey and Carlton were not known to die in the crash of their aircraft, and could be among them. It's time we brought our men home