STATON, ROBERT MILTON JR.

Name: Robert Milton Staton, Jr.
Rank/Branch: E4/US Army
Unit: 173rd Engineer Company, 173rd Airborne Brigade
Date of Birth: 26 November 1947 (New York NY)
Home City of Record: Jamesville NC
Date of Loss: 11 November 1967
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 143548N 1073634E (YB825184)
Status (in 1973): Killed/Body Not Recovered
Category: 2
Acft/Vehicle/Ground: Ground
Refno: 0905

Other Personnel In Incident: Edwin Martinez-Mercado; Gary Shaw; John Stuckey;
(all missing)

Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 15 October 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 2020.

REMARKS: BTL - LFT FR DED - LATR BOD GONE - J

SYNOPSIS: On November 11, 1967, PFC Edwin Martinez-Mercado, PFC Gary Shaw,
PVT John Stuckey and SP4 Robert Staton were all members of the 173rd
Airborne Brigade on a search and destroy mission in Kontum Province, South
Vietnam, when the unit engaged an enemy force.

Following the battle, the three were judged to have been killed in action,
and were left on the battlefield for later recovery. A few days later, the
area was searched for casualties, but their bodies could not be found.

The three members of the 173rd killed on November 11, 1967 are listed with
honor among the missing because no remains were found. Their cases seem
quite clear. For others who are listed missing, 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.

When the war ended, and 591 Americans were released in Operation Homecoming
in 1973, military experts expressed their dismay that "some hundreds" of
POWs did not come home with them. Since that time, thousands of reports have
been received, indicating that many Americans are still being held against
their will in Southeast Asia. Whether the men from the 173rd are among them
is not at all likely. What is certain, however, is that if only one American
remains alive in enemy hands, we owe him our best effort to bring him home.



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02/2020

https://dpaa.secure.force.com/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt0000000KZYmEAO

SP4 ROBERT MILTON STATON JR.

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On November 11, 1967, a unit from the U.S. Army's 173rd Airborne Brigade engaged an enemy force near Hill 875 as part of the month-long Operation MacArthur campaign, also known as the Battle of Dak To. Six men from the unit were killed in action before the unit was forced to withdraw, leaving the bodies behind. The next day, the unit returned to recover the remains but found that all six were gone, supposedly removed by the enemy following the engagement. Further searches recovered the bodies of two of the unit's fallen, but the remaining four could not be located. 

Specialist 4 Robert Milton Staton Jr. entered the U.S. Army from North Carolina and served in the 173rd Engineer Company, 173rd Airborne Brigade. He was one of the members of this unit who was killed during the action, and was among those whose remains could not be located following the incident. Today, Specialist 4 Staton 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 Active Pursuit.

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