Thanks for this, Sandy.

I also have my bracelet. I think about him every Veterans Day and your post made me take some time and I started searching for more information on him.

His name is William F. Mullen and he is from Brockton, Mass. He was lost over Laos on April 29, 1966 and his name is on the Wall.

He was a Captain and a pilot with the US Marines. He was flying his last mission, at the end of his tour of duty, over the Ban Karai Pass in Laos, and disappeared. Reports state that his radio was active after he was lost and that he was using the "click" system that pilots used after they were shot down, for two days. Efforts to rescue him were held back by heavy artillery fire each time they tried to go in.

His wife, Barbara Mullen, raised two children while waiting for his return. When the POWs in Viet Nam were brought home, no agreement was made with the Pathet Lao for the servicemen they held or for any information on deaths of prisoners held in Laos.

Captain Mullen was promoted while MIA, to Major and then to Lt Colonel.

Lt. Colonel Mullen was declared presumed dead in 1986, although no information or remains were found.

The saddest part of my search was reading these words:

September 10, 2008

The following information should be included in his file and his personal
website under William F. Mullen:

About six years ago intelligence from former North Vietnam military officers
confirmed to our Defense Department that my husband's parachute had carried him straight down into a North Vietnam Headquarters on the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos. Since then the Defense Department has located a grave where eventually the North Vietnamese buried him.

My husband and an estimated 400 plus aviators were shot down, many captured and later buried by the North Vietnamese along the Ho Chi Minh Trail and elsewhere in Laos - so many, in fact, that although my husband's grave was found more than five years ago, the list for returning the remains of these POWs is so long they will not excavate my husband's grave for at least three more years.

I will appreciate your making these changes as soon as possible...

With appreciation,

Barbara Mullen

Barbara Mullen wrote a book "Every Effort" in 1986, detailing her search for information and her wait for her husband to return. She has remarried and the book is listed under her married name, Barbara Mullen Keenan and is still available through Amazon and other booksellers.

During my search I also found out that his son is a Lt Colonel in the USMC who served several tours of duty in Iraq.