CLACK, CECIL JAMES

Name: Cecil James Clack
Rank/Branch: E3/US Army
Unit: 1st Battalion, 35th Infantry, 4th Infantry Division
Date of Birth: 12 August 1947
Home City of Record: Chester SC
Date of Loss: 01 January 1969
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 140031N 1073133E (YA728500)
Status (in 1973): Killed/Body Not Recovered
Category: 4
Acft/Vehicle/Ground: Ground
Refno: 1353
Other Personnel In Incident: (none missing)

Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 01 April 1991 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 2020.

REMARKS:

SYNOPSIS: On January 1, 1969, PFC Cecil Clack was taking part in a river
crossing operation with his unit when he let go of the safety line and
disappeared under the water about 200 meters downstream. Search efforts were
conducted, but Clack was never located. He was listed as presumed dead, body
not recovered.

Clack is one of nearly 60,000 men and women who lost their lives in Vietnam.
Because his body was not recovered, he is listed along with the dead, and
also along with the missing. Although Clack, it seems clear, perished in the
river crossing, many of the missing were alive and in good health when they
disappeared. Many were in radio contact with would-be rescuers and informed
them that they were about to be captured. Others were photographed in
captivity, only to vanish from the prison system.

Since the war ended in Vietnam, refugees have flooded the world, bringing
with them stories of American soldiers still held prisoner in their
homeland. Many authorities now believe that hundreds were left behind as
living hostages.

Clack apparently did not survive the events of January 1, 1969. His family
has accepted that he is dead. They no longer expect him to come home
someday. But hundreds of families wait expectantly and in the special agony
only uncertainty can bring. Hundreds of men wait in caves, cages and
prisons. How much longer will we allow the abandonment of our best men? It's
time we brought them home.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

01/2020


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PFC CECIL JAMES CLACK

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Private First Class (PFC) Cecil James Clack entered the U.S. Army from South Carolina and served with Company E, 1st Battalion, 35th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division. On January 1, 1969, he was a member of a river crossing operation when he lost his grip on the safety line and was carried away by the current. He disappeared under the water downstream, in the vicinity of grid coordinates YA 728 500. Search efforts were not able to rescue PFC Clack or recover his remains, and he is still unaccounted-for. Today, Private First Class Clack is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Based on all information available, DPAA assessed the individual's case to be in the analytical category of Non-recoverable.

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