Name: Charles Edward White
Rank: E7 Branch: US Army, 5th Special Forces Group
Unit: MACV-SOG, Command & Control North
Date/Place of Birth: May 18, 1933 Union Town, Alabama
Home City of Record: Bessemer, Alabama
Date of Loss: January 29, 1968
Country of Loss: Cambodia
Loss Coordinates: 143200N 1071800E (YB489072
Status in 1973: Missing in Action (MIA)
Category: 2 Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: Ground
Reference Number: 1006
Other Personnel in Incident: (none missing)
Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 01 September 1990 from one or more of the following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews.
Updated by the P.O.W. NETWORK 1998.
Remarks: Possibly Dead -- Impaled
Synopsis: MACV-SOG (Military Assistance Command, Vietnam Studies and Observation Group) was joint-service unconventional warfare task force engaged in highly classified operations throughout Southeast Asia. The 5th Special Forces channeled personnel into MACV-SOG (although it was not a Special Forces group) through Special Operations Augmentation (SOA), which provided their "cover" while under secret orders to MACV-SOG. The team performed deep penetration missions of strategic reconnaissance and interdiction into Laos and Cambodia which were called, depending on the time frame, "Shining Brass" or "Pacific Fire" missions.
SFC Charles E. White was a team leader of a MACV-SOG reconnaissance team that was inserted into a target area in Ratanokiri Province, Cambodia near the border of Laos and Cambodia. The team consisted of White and two indigenous personnel, Nang and Khong. The team came under enemy fire and White called for an emergency extraction.
During the extraction, the team had to use McGuire rigs hung from the helicopter because the dense jungle canopy prevented the helicopter from landing. The device was lowered through the trees and raised up again with the men suspended from it.
According to the helicopter crew, the three personnel on their ropes seemed secure on liftoff. SFC White indicated he was having difficulty holding onto the rope, then fell. At the time the helicopter was at an altitude of between 75 and 200 feet above the ground.
Due to the time of day and the enemy situation, a recovery team was not inserted until the next day. No evidence that White had been in the area was found except for the path his body made through the trees and bamboo when the incident occured. Neither blood trails nor equipment were found. The area appeared to have been searched by the enemy. No fresh grave sites could be located, and it was considered doubtful that the enemy would carry a body any distance before burying it or otherwise disposing of it.
It was noted by the recovery team that the bamboo was thick enough to have cushioned SFC White's path in descent, and that he could have survived the fall. In light of all available information, SFC White was placed in "Missing in Action" status, with the belief that the enemy could probably account for him, living or dead.
Curiously, the Defense Intelligence Agency added the data note, "POSS DEAD - IMPALED" to data concerning Charles E. White. Neither Army after-action reports nor other public information mention this gruesome possibility. Both clearly state that no trace of White was found. If there is any credence to this remark, perhaps it comes from classified information related to this case.
The missions MACV-SOG teams were assigned were exceedingly dangerous and of strategic importance. The men who were put into such situations knew the chance of their recovery if captured was slim to none. They quite naturally assumed that their freedom would come by the end of the war. For another 2500, including White, freedom has never come
Since the war ended, nearly 10,000 reports relating to missing Americans in Southeast Asia have been received by the U.S., convincing many authorities that hundreds remain alive in captivity. Charles E. White could be among them. If so, what must he think of us?
The purpose for this web page is to inform us and to encourage the "political-minded" to renew/refresh their concerns for such men! What if this was YOUR own family member?
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