[Vision2020] Where Are They Now? (CWO Jon M. Sparks)

[Tom Hansen]

A copy of the following email has been provided to the appropriate elected
officials at:

Governor Butch Otter
http://gov.idaho.gov/ourgov/contact.html

Senator Larry Craig
http://craig.senate.gov/webform.cfm

Senator Mike Crapo
http://crapo.senate.gov/contact/email.cfm

Representative Mike Simpson
http://www.house.gov/simpson/emailme.shtml

Representative Bill Sali
http://sali.house.gov/

Emails concerning those unaccounted for veterans whose home of record is
within Idaho's 1st Congressional District will be provided to Representative
Sali if/when he becomes accessible to the citizens of Idaho.

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Subject:  Where Are They Now? (CWO Jon M. Sparks)
 
Dear - ,
 
As a retired veteran and citizen in the state of Idaho I would like to know
what is being done to determine the fate of the following veteran who
remains unaccounted for:

Chief Warrant Officer Jon Michael Sparks (Carey, Idaho), U.S. Army

On 19 March 1971,  WO1 Frederick L. "Fred" Cristman, pilot; then  WO1 Jon M.
Sparks, co-pilot; SP5 Ricardo M. Garcia, crew chief; and SP4 Paul Lagenour,
door gunner; comprised the crew of a UH1C helicopter that was part of a
flight of aircraft conducting an armed escort and rescue mission in support
of Lam Son 719 into Oscar Eight. WO1 Cristman's aircraft was providing fire
support during the pick up of South Vietnamese (ARVN) airborne troops at
Fire Support Base Alpha in the jungle covered mountains of Savannakhet
Province, Laos.

After he safely landed, SP5 Garcia pushed SP4 Lagenour out of the helicopter
before departing it himself. As the rest of the crew exited the Huey, an
enemy mortar round hit the roof of the aircraft and exploded. Fred Cristman,
Jon Sparks and Ricardo Garcia were knocked to the ground by the concussion
while Lagenour maintained his footing and was able to join a nearby ARVN
unit located on the edge of the pickup zone. When Paul Lagenour reached the
ARVN unit, he was told by one of the soldiers that the other crewmen had
exited the aircraft and headed away from the front of it into the path of
advancing North Vietnamese forces.

Because of being knocked to the ground, the WO1 Cristman, WO1 Sparks and SP5
Garcia initially stayed near their damaged aircraft. Lead's aircrew verified
this fact when they made several firing passes over the pickup zone. Lead
was forced to depart the area due to sustaining serious battle damage.
Although another helicopter arrived to assist with the rescue efforts, only
two ARVN troops were eventually rescued due to the heavy NVA ground fire.
SP4 Lagenour later walked out of Laos with the South Vietnamese unit he
joined and into a US military controlled area. 

According to a US government report released during the Senate Select
Committee Hearings in 1992, "in March 1987, a private American POW hunter
reported a live American in Laos . The background of the purported American
correlates to a crewman from this incident." While the government report
referenced the survival of one of this loss' crewmen, it did not identify
the individual mentioned in the report.   Fred Cristman, Jon Sparks and
Ricardo Garcia are among the nearly 600 Americans who disappeared in Laos .
Many of these men were known to be alive on the ground. The Laotians
admitted holding "tens of tens" of American Prisoners of War, but these men
were never negotiated for either by direct negotiation between our countries
or through the Paris Peace Accords that ended the War in Vietnam since Laos
was not a party to that agreement.

Additional information and a detailed account of Warrant Officer Sparks'
activities on March 19, 1971, prior to his disappearance, are available at:

http://www.IdahoCares.net/Sparks.htm

Please advise me of any action that is being taken by you or any other
elected or appointed official to determine his fate.

In the event there is nothing being done, please explain why not, and tell
me how you, personally, plan to correct this and prevent it from ever
happening again.

Information related to other Idaho citizen-veterans who remain unaccounted
for may be accessed at:

http://www.IdahoCares.net

Yours most sincerely,

Thomas P. Hansen
SFC, US Army (Retired)
201 Taylor Avenue
Moscow, Idaho

Cc:
Lewiston Tribune
Moscow-Pullman Daily News
Spokesman Review

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Pro patria,

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"Patriotism is not a short and frenzied outburst of emotion but the tranquil
and steady dedication of a lifetime." 

--Adlai E. Stevenson, Jr.