BRINCKMANN, ROBERT EDWIN

Remains Returned 31 July 1989

Name: Robert Edwin Brinckmann
Rank/Branch: O4/US Air Force
Unit: 13th Tactical Fighter Squadron
Date of Birth: 31 December 1928
Home City of Record: Newark NJ
Date of Loss: 04 November 1966
Country of Loss: North Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 212400N 1061100E
Status (in 1973): Missing In Action
Category: 2
Acft/Vehicle/Ground: F105F
Refno: 0512
Other Personnel In Incident: Vincent A. Scungio (missing)

Source: Compiled 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 in 2020.

REMARKS:

SYNOPSIS: The F105 Thunderchief ("Thud"), in its various versions, flew more
missions against North Vietnam than any other U.S. aircraft. It also
suffered more losses, partially due to its vulnerability, which was
constantly under revision. Between 1965 and 1971, the aircraft was equipped
with armor plate, a secondary flight control system, an improved pilot
ejection seat, a more precise navigation system, better blind bombing
capability and ECM pods for the wings. The F model carried a second crewman
which made it well suited for the role of suppressing North Vietnam's
missile defenses.

Major Robert E. Brinckmann was an F105F Air Force pilot assigned a combat
mission over North Vietnam on November 4, 1966. His co-pilot that day was
Capt. Vincent A. Scungio.

When the aircraft was about 60 miles northeast of Hanoi in Ha Bac Province,
North Vietnam, it was hit by enemy fire and crashed. Scungio and Brinckmann
were declared Missing In Action.

When 591 Americans were released from Vietnam in 1973, Scungio and
Brinckmann were not among them. Military officials were shocked to learn
that hundreds of Americans known or suspected to be prisoners of war were
not released.

In an attempt to determine those cases for which the Vietnamese should be
able to make an accounting, the Defense Intelligence Agency expanded
Brinckmann and Scungio's classification to include an enemy knowledge
ranking of 2. Category 2 indicates "suspect knowledge" and includes
personnel who may have been involved in loss incidents with individuals
reported in Category 1 (confirmed knowledge), or who were lost in areas or
under conditions that they may reasonably be expected to be known by the
enemy; who were connected with an incident which was discussed but not
identified by names in enemy news media; or identified (by elimination, but
not 100% positively) through analysis of all-source intelligence. Still, the
Vietnamese denied any knowledge of the two missing Americans.

Since the war ended, nearly 10,000 5000 reports have been received by the
U.S. Government regarding Americans missing, prisoner or unaccounted for in
Vietnam. Some, in the words of one State Department official, have withstood
the closest scrutiny possible, and cannot be disputed. There is very strong
reason to believe that Americans are still held captive in Southeast Asia
today.

In late July, 1989 remains were returned to the United States by the
Vietnamese which were subsequently identified as being those of Robert E.
Brinckmann. Brinckmann had been -- dead or alive -- a prisoner of war for 23
years. The obvious question is how and when did he die? And, of course,
where is Vincent Scungio?

Nearly 2500 Americans did not return from the war in Vietnam. Thousands of
reports have been received indicating that some hundreds remain alive in
captivity. Vietnam and her communist allies can account for most of them.
Current "negotiations" between the U.S. and Vietnam have yielded the remains
of nearly 300 Americans. The families of these men at last have the peace of
knowing whether their loved one is alive or dead.

In the total view of the issue of the missing, however, the return of
remains signals no progress. In the early 1980's the very credible
Congressional testimony of a Vietnamese mortician indicated that the
Vietnamese are in possession of over 400 sets of remains. In 15 years, they
have returned barely half of them. More importantly, the same credible
witness, whose testimony is believed throughout Congress, stated that he had
seen live Americans held at the same location where the remains were stored.

As long as even one American remains alive in captivity in Southeast Asia,
the only issue is that one living man. We must bring them home before there
are only remains to negotiate for.

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01/2020

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