DANIELSON, BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
Remains Identified 08/06/06
Name: Benjamin Franklin Danielson
Rank/Branch: O3/US Air Force
Unit:
Date of Birth: 31 March 1943
Home City of Record: Kenyon MN
Date of Loss: 05 December 1969
Country of Loss: Laos
Loss Coordinates: 173100N 1054300E (WE770370)
Status (in 1973): Missing In Action
Category: 2
Acft/Vehicle/Ground: F4C
Refno: 1535
Other Personnel In Incident: Navigator (rescued)
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 2009.
REMARKS:
SYNOPSIS: Captain Benjamin F. Danielson was the pilot of the number two
aircraft in a flight of two F4Cs on an operational mission over Laos.
Captain Danielson and his navigator departed Cam Ranh Bay Air Base, South
Vietnam at 10:00 a.m. on December 5, 1969. At about 11:30 a.m., while
pulling up from a dive, the aircraft was hit by hostile ground fire.
Two ejection seats and two parachutes were observed leaving the plane, and
two emergency radio beeper signals were received. The two landed 100 feet
apart on each side of a river. Voice contact was established with both men
on the ground, who reported that they were in good shape. Six separate
rescue attempts were made on that day, but each was aborted when it came
under heavy ground fire. Search and rescue attempts contniued for 12 hours.
The navigator saw Danielson twice that day and talked with him on the radio
all day and night. Danielson and the navigator had worked out a signal
system that if one man beeped the other, it meant not to call on the radio
because the enemy was close enough to hear radio chatter.
Fourty-five minutes after first light on December 6, Danielson beeped the
navigator oned. It is believed that the enemy found Danielson's position at
this time. There was no further beeper or radio contact from Ben for about
an hour, then the beeper went off and stayed active until the batteries
would have run down. Heavy ground fire prevented the navigator from being
rescued until noon on December 7. Danielson, at that time, was not found.
Danielson was last seen about 1 mile southwest of Ban Phanop, Laos.
Like nearly 600 others lost in Laos, Danielson simply vanished without a
trace. No agreement was reached regarding the prisoner held by the Lao. No
prisoners were released by the Lao. Many of the thousands of reports of
Americans alive in captivity today come from Laos. Perhaps one of those who
remain is Danielson; that is uncertain. What is certain, however, is that
someone knows the fate of Benjamin F. Danielson.
=================================
POW/MIA Update:  January 25, 2007

U.S. PERSONNEL MISSING FROM THE VIETNAM WAR:  There are now 1,789 US
personnel listed as missing and unaccounted for by the Department of
Defense.  Recently, the identifications of two Americans previously
missing/unaccounted for from the Vietnam War were announced:
Major Benjamin F. Danielson, USAF, USA, MN, MIA 12/5/69, Laos, RR 11/12/03,
ID 8/6/06
Sergeant First Class Lewis C. Walton, RI, MIA 5/10/71, SVN, RR 10/19/04, ID
10/23/06
The League extends best wishes to the families and friends of both men and
hopes that these final answers bring long-awaited peace of mind. The
accounting for these Americans brings to 794 the number of US personnel
accounted for since the end of the Vietnam War in 1975.  Over 90% of the
1,789 still listed as missing were lost in Vietnam or in areas of Laos and
Cambodia under Vietnamese wartime control.
=======================
http://www.gmtoday.com/news/local_stories/2007/March_07/03142007_02.asp
Air Force pilot's remains returning home 38 years later
Waukesha brother of man killed in Laos
grateful for work to find his sibling


By LINDA McALPINE - GM Today Staff
 March 14, 2007


WAUKESHA - A sliver of shoulder bone has shed some light on the mystery
surrounding the death decades ago of Dennis Danielson's brother.
Capt. Benjamin F. Danielson was a 26-year-old Air Force pilot when his plane
was shot down on a mission over Laos on Dec. 5, 1969, said Dennis Danielson
of Waukesha.
Recently, DNA tests identified a piece of shoulder bone as belonging to his
long-missing brother, Dennis Danielson said.
He still has the typewritten letter, its stationery having faded with time,
sent to him when he was in the Army, stationed at the Panama Canal, that
broke the news of the brother he idolized, gone missing.
"The aircraft was downed by suspected ground fire. A parachute was seen and
beeper signals were heard and radio contact was made with him," wrote Maj.
Gen. DuPont. "Rescue efforts are being made but are being hampered by enemy
fire," the letter continued. "Please accept my sincere sympathy during this
time of anxiety."
Government papers bearing "Secret" and "Confidential" in bold black letters
recently released to the public detail the largest rescue effort of the
Vietnam War that had been launched to recover Capt. Danielson and his
navigator.
"When the plane was hit, both my brother and his navigator got out and
landed safely, separated by a river in an area heavily infested with the
enemy," Dennis Danielson said Tuesday in the living room of the quaint home
he shares with his wife, Susan, near Carroll College. "The first day, they
bombed and used a smoke cover to go in and rescue the navigator."
Two more days of trying and taking devastating enemy fire and the search for
Capt. Danielson was called off, his brother said.
"They now seem to think he may have been killed that very first night, that
the radio contact gave his location away," he said.
His brother ended up flying that deadly day in Laos through a fluke, Dennis
Danielson said.
"He was supposed to fly a tanker to Japan, but someone pulled rank and he
ended up staying on base," he said. "When they scrambled, he went up on the
mission and never came back."
Until now.
Although through the years things connected to Capt. Danielson surfaced -
like his pistol that turned up in a Vietnam museum - his remains were not
found until last summer.
"A shoulder bone was found and my mother supplied her DNA for the testing,
which concluded it was my brother's," Danielson said. "He will be brought
home in June and buried in our hometown of Kenyon, Minn., with full military
honors.
"It's weird, in a way, to have a conclusion after all this time. It's
amazing, with all the ups and downs we have had. The government did not give
up, even after nearly 40 years."
Dennis Danielson said there is a sense of closure knowing the military
initials that have long stood behind is brother's name - KIA-NBR, killed in
action but no body returned - will soon be able to be changed to simply KIA.
Blake McNulty, a retired University of Wisconsin-Waukesha history professor,
said he was not surprised information about missions over Laos had not been
forthcoming until recent documents were released.
"The bombing over Laos was supposed to be secret," he said.
McNulty said he and his wife visited that area of Laos and it still shows
the effects.
"Laos is the most bombed area in the history of the world," he said. "It
still looks like a moonscape."
Linda McAlpine can be reached at lmcalpine@conleynet.com
=======================================================
Navy Flier Brings His Father Home from War, 37 Years Later
Story Number: NNS070518-10
Release Date: 5/18/2007 11:55:00 AM

By Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Michael Sheehan, Navy Operational
Support Center Minneapolis Public Affairs
MINNEAPOLIS (NNS) -- Following a plot straight out of a Hollywood movie, Lt.
Cmdr. Brian Danielson escorted his father's remains home to Minnesota on May
17, nearly 37 years after his death in combat during the Vietnam War.
Danielson and his mother flew with the remains of Air Force Maj. Benjamin
Franklin Danielson from Hawaii to Minnesota in preparation for a final
burial in Kenyon, Minn., on June 15.
Danielson was an 18-month-old in Kenyon when his father was shot down over
Laos on Dec. 5, 1965. The elder Danielson had been flying a F-4 Phantom when
he and weapons officer Lt. Woody Bergeron ejected from their damaged
aircraft, under enemy fire, and parachuted into the jungle below. Heavy
ground fire prevented the downed fliers from being immediately rescued; and,
ultimately, more than 500 search and rescue (SAR) sorties were flown in an
effort to retrieve the aviators in what amounted to the largest SAR mission
of the war.
Bergeron was rescued after 51 hours in the jungle, but the elder Danielson
never made it home. The Air Force officially listed him as missing in action
(MIA) until 1976, when his status was changed to killed in action with no
body recovered.
In 1991, a U.S. service pistol exhibited in a Vietnamese museum was
discovered to have been issued to the elder Danielson, and in 2003 a piece
of bone and Danielson's dog tags were brought to U.S. authorities in
Vietnam.
In the summer of 2006, the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) led an
expedition to Laos in an effort to find more of the elder Danielson's
remains, and the younger Danielson joined the effort while on leave from
Electronic Attack Squadron (VAQ) 209. By journeying to Laos, Danielson
became the first active-duty service member to participate in an expedition
for an MIA father.
"Everything lined up perfectly," Danielson said. "My squadron had a brief
break in our training, and my Skipper approved my request. I was very
excited to join the effort and the work JPAC does."
Although the expedition did not find any additional remains, DNA testing
conducted by JPAC's Central Identification Laboratory concluded that the
bone fragment came from his father, allowing the younger Danielson and his
mother to plan a final burial and memorial service at a family plot in
Kenyon.
"As soon as I got back from Laos," he said "I jumped back into training with
VAQ-209, and even got to fly an exchange flight with a German squadron that
flew the same type of F-4's that my father flew. A very short time after
walking the jungle trails in Laos where my father was killed, I was with my
squadron in Iraq. It's been a wild year."
Danielson, his mother, and his father's remains welcomed at the airport by
honor guards from the Kenyon VFW and American Legion, the Northland Vietnam
Veteran's Association, and the Everett McClay VFW Post 1296.
"It's been great to have a proper welcome home for my dad," Danielson said.
"This experience, looking for my father's remains, at one point seemed
hopeless but it ended up being a very positive thing. We should all be
reminded of what it means to sacrifice for our country, and what our country
will sacrifice for you. No matter how long it takes, no matter the
circumstances, if you sacrifice for our country, we will bring you home."

==========================
June 15, 2007
AIR FORCE PILOT MISSING FROM VIETNAM WAR IS IDENTIFIED

The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that 
the remains of a U.S. serviceman, missing in action from the Vietnam War, have been 
identified and returned to his family for burial with full military honors.
He is Maj. Benjamin F. Danielson, U.S. Air Force, of Kenyon, Minn.

He will be buried Saturday in Kenyon.
On Dec. 5, 1969, Danielson and his co-pilot, 1st Lt. Woodrow J. Bergeron, Jr., 
were on a strike mission over Khammouan Province, Laos, when their F-4C was struck 
by enemy ground fire.  Both ejected from the aircraft with minor injuries, landing 
safely on opposite sides of the Nam Ngo River. 
Both men evaded capture the first night and maintained radio contact with search and 
rescue personnel.  Bergeron was rescued on the third day; however, enemy forces 
apparently located Danielson soon after light on the second day.  Bergeron said that 
he heard enemy activity, including gun shots, near Danielson’s position and presumed 
that the enemy located and shot Danielson. 
This was the largest search and rescue effort during the Vietnam War, involving 15 
attempts before Bergeron was found.  Each of these efforts was driven off by intense 
ground fire, which heavily damaged several aircraft and killed a door gunner on one 
of the rescue helicopters.  Heavy enemy presence in the loss location prevented 
further efforts to locate Danielson. 
Between 1993 and 2006, the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) led seven joint 
and two unilateral investigations in Vietnam, four joint investigations in 
Laos, one trilateral investigation and one excavation.  Team members found aircraft wreckage 
consistent with an F-4 at the crash site, but found no human remains or evidence of 
a burial along the river.
In 2003, Danielson’s identification tags, a survival knife, a portion of a survival 
vest and human remains were turned over to U.S. officials.  They were said to be 
obtained from a Laotian source who found them while fishing along the banks of the 
Nam Ngo River.
Although an excavation conducted near the river in 2006 yielded no remains or 
evidence of a burial, JPAC used other forensic identification tools and circumstantial 
evidence in Danielson’s identification.  Scientists from the Armed Forces DNA 
Identification Laboratory also used mitochondrial DNA to help identify the remains 
previously turned in by the Laotian source.
For additional information of the Defense Department’s missing to account for missing 
Americans, visit the DPMO web site at http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo or call (703) 699-1169.

http://www.seattlepi.com/local/6420ap_wa_mia_mission.html


Last updated September 18, 2009 10:53 a.m. PT

NAS Whidbey pilot's dad was MIA in Vietnam War

By GALE FIEGE
THE HERALD

OAK HARBOR, Wash. -- Navy Lt. Cmdr. Brian Danielson went to Laos to look for his father.

Danielson was just a year old in the fall of 1969 when his dad, Air Force Capt. Benjamin Franklin Danielson, was shot down over Southeast Asia.

An only child, Brian was raised by his mother Mary, who became active in the National League of Families of prisoners of war and those missing in action, an organization looking for answers.

In 1976, the Air Force told the Danielsons that the captain was presumed dead, but they didn't have evidence to be certain. No body was recovered.

"It was a time when the movies portrayed long-lost soldiers walking out of the jungle. We lived with the doubt that he was really dead," said Danielson, who is based at Whidbey Island Naval Air Station. "You don't know what you don't know. Being naturally optimistic, we assumed he might be alive. If you don't know what happened, these thoughts haunt you and that was the biggest challenge. Many people let it destroy their lives."

In the farming town of Kenyon, Minn., Brian Danielson grew up without a father but surrounded by family and friends. His parents and all four of his grandparents were alumni of his high school, where he played football, wrestled and was on the baseball team.

"I heard only good stories about my dad, so he cast a large shadow," he remembers. "I tried to do well because I did not want the image tarnished. I've always tried to do the right thing, the honorable thing. I hope I have anyway."

At St. Olaf College, Danielson played football, the first season under the same man who coached his dad at the Lutheran school. Wanting to continue to follow his father's footsteps, Danielson tried to join the Air Force. At the time, the branch of the military didn't need more pilots, but that's what Danielson wanted to do, fly.

So he worked on the family farm until the Navy accepted him in its aviation program. After officer training and flight school in Pensacola, Fla., Danielson earned his wings and was sent to NAS Whidbey for an eight-year stint.

"I had two deployments on aircraft carriers and both times we sailed past Vietnam. So close, so far away," he said.

In 2003, Danielson by this time married to his wife, Pamela, and the father of Benjamin IV, Will and Jennifer was working as an engineer in Maryland and serving in the Navy Reserve. He was thinking about going back to active duty when he learned that his father's dog tags and service weapon had been brought to U.S. authorities in Vietnam.

Also turned in was a piece of bone.

His father's mother provided a DNA sample.

The genetics matched.

The bone fragment was from his father.

Meanwhile, Danielson returned to active duty.

He joined an expedition to Laos in 2006 led by the federal Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command. The journey made him the first ever active-duty serviceman to participate in an official search for a missing-in-action father.

"I got permission, but not without a lot of scrutiny," he said. "People wondered what would happen if we found something while I was there. I was told I had to act like an officer."

Danielson's presence actually helped put a face on the operation, he said, opening doors among the local people.

During most of the 45-day trip, Danielson worked alongside forensic anthropologists and Laotians sifting through the soil and old ammunition shells at a site a few miles from the spot where his father likely was shot down.

On what would have been his father's 63rd birthday, Danielson and others visited the spot, bringing flowers to place on the ground.

The night of his final mission, 40 years ago, Benjamin Franklin Danielson took off in his F-4 Phantom fighter plane from Cam Ranh Bay in South Vietnam headed along the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Another pilot remembers watching Capt. Danielson and his back-seat weapons man eject from their damaged aircraft after it was fired upon.

They parachuted under fire into the jungle below, but ended up on opposite sides of a river. Heavy groundfire prevented the airmen from being rescued immediately, and one helicopter door gunner was killed in the rescue attempt, just days from when he was set to go home to get married, Danielson said. The effort eventually involved 500 troops in what turned out to be one of the largest search-and-rescue missions of the war.

"My father's backseater survived and was rescued. I found out from him that after a couple days they expected my dad was dead," he said.

Armed with the knowledge that the bone fragment matched the family DNA, Danielson and his mother decided to plan a funeral.

"We never found any other remains of my father and still don't totally know what happened," Danielson said. "But we decided to close the book. All we ever asked was to know if he was alive or dead."

More than 1,000 people attended the services in the family's church in Minnesota. The crowd included hundreds of Patriot Guard motorcycle riders who lined the church grounds with flags. Dozens of people who had worn POW/MIA bracelets bearing Air Force Capt. Benjamin Danielson's name attended or contacted the family.

"It was a profound experience. I got to feel the loss. I felt like a normal person."

After the funeral, Navy Lt. Cmdr. Brian Danielson was deployed to Iraq. Now he is back at Whidbey, attached to Electronic Attack Squadron 129, for which he coordinates tactical training on the new Growler jet.

He said he would like to serve again on a mission to find out what happened to others listed as missing in action.

"I understand why families might give up hope. In the absence of answers about their loved ones, however, it's good to know we are not alone and that efforts are being taken to find out what happened," Danielson said. "As a country, we must continue to remind ourselves of the contract we have with our servicemen to go to the full extent to return them to their home soil."

---

Information from: The Herald, http://www.heraldnet.com