John Murray Leaver, Jr. |
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Killed In Action - Body Not Recovered
SUMMARY
SYNOPSIS: Commander John M. Leaver was assigned as a staff officer to Commander
Cruiser Destroyer Group 7th Fleet. On May 8, 1972, he and Captain Edmund B. Taylor
were passengers aboard a helicopter attempting to make a night landing on the fantail of
the USS Providence(CLG-6). The helicopter crashed and fell overboard.
Leaver and Taylor were both lost in the crash and their remains were never located. For others who are listed missing, however, resolution is not as simple. Many were known to have survived their loss incident. Quite a few were in radio contact with search teams and describing an advancing enemy. Some were photographed or recorded in captivity. Others simply vanished without a trace.
Nearly 2500 Americans remain missing or otherwise unaccounted for in Vietnam. Since
the war ended, over 10,000 reports concerning Americans still prisoner, missing or other-
wise unaccounted for in Southeast Asia have been received by the U.S. Government.
One set of critics say that the U.S. has done little to address the issue of live POWs,
preferring the politically safer issue of remains return. Others place the blame on the
Vietnamese, for using the issue of POW/MIA to their political advantage. Regardless |