MORGAN, BURKE HENDERSON

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MORGAN, BURKE HENDERSON
Remains Identified 10/2005

Name: Burke Henderson Morgan
Rank/Branch: O3/US Air Force
Unit: (unknown, per USAF)
Date of Birth: 04 June 1936
Home City of Record: Manitou Springs CO
Date of Loss: 22 August 1967
Country of Loss: Laos
Loss Coordinates: 193830N 1033345E (UG490720)
Status (in 1973): Killed/Body Not Recovered
Category: 2
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: A26A
Refno: 0802
Other Personnel in Incident: John C.G. Kerr (missing)

Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 01 September 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:

SYNOPSIS: The Douglas A26 was a twin-engine attack bomber with World War II
service. In Vietnam, it served the French in the 1950's and also the U.S. in
the early years of American involvement in Southeast Asia. In 1966, eight
A26's were deployed to Nakhon Phanom to perform hunter-killer missions
against truck convoys in southern Laos.

Maj. John C.G. Kerr was the pilot and Capt. Burke H. Morgan the navigator of
an A26A aircraft assigned a mission over the Plain of Jars region of Laos on
August 22, 1967. The Plain of Jars had long been controlled by the communist
Pathet Lao and a continual effort had been made by the secret CIA-directed
force of some 30,000 indigenous tribesmen to strengthen anti-communist
strongholds there. The U.S. committed millions of dollars to the secret war
in Laos. Details of this secret operation were not released until August
1971.

During the mission radar and radio contact was lost with Kerr and Morgan,
and they were declared missing at the time of estimated fuel exhaustion.
About four years later, unspecified evidence was received by the Department
of the Air Force that both men died at the time of the incident. They were
at that time declared Killed in Action.

Because Laos was "neutral" and because the U.S. continued to state they were
not at war with Laos (although we were regularly bombing North Vietnamese
traffic along the border and conducted assaults against communist
strongholds thoughout the country at the behest of the anti-communist
government of Laos), and the U.S. did not recognize the Pathet Lao as a
government entity, the nearly 600 Americans lost in Laos were never
recovered.

The Pathet Lao stated that they would release the "tens of tens" of American
prisoners they held only from Laos. At war's end, no American held in Laos
was released - or negotiated for.

Mounting evidence indicates that hundreds of Americans are still alive in
captivity in Southeast Asia. They proudly served their country and deserve
better than abandonment.

Burke H. Morgan was promoted to the rank of Major during the period he was
maintained missing.

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LEAGUE NEWSLETTER

April 12, 2006

PERSONNEL ACCOUNTED FOR FROM THE VIETNAM WAR:  According to the Defense
POW/MIA Office (DPMO), seven US personnel have been accounted for since our
November Newsletter.  The remains of Colonel Harold B. Lineberger, USAF,
from Austin, TX, listed as MIA in Cambodia on January 29, 1971, were
recovered from an isolated grave site March 11, 1997, and identified
December 5, 2005.  Remains of Major Jack L. Barker, Waycross, GA, Captain
John F. Dugan, Roselle, NJ, Sergeant John J. Chubb, Gardena, CA and Sergeant
William E. Dillender, Naples, FL, all US Army personnel listed as KIA/BNR in
Laos March 30, 1971, were recovered December 12, 2002 and identified August
30, 2005.   The remains of Technical Sergeant Patrick L. Shannon, USAF, from
Owasso, OK, listed as KIA/BNR March 11, 1968, were recovered April 7, 2003
and identified October 31, 2005.  And finally, the remains of Captain Burke
H. Morgan, USAF, from Manitou Springs, CO, listed as KIA/BNR in Laos August
22, 1967, were recovered February 17, 2005 and identified October 31, 2005.
To each of these families, the League extends support and hope that this
final answer brings long-awaited peace of mind.  To the Lao and Cambodian
governments, the League extends gratitude and optimism that cooperation will
continue to increase, despite current US funding challenges (see below).

======================================================

NEWS RELEASES from the United States Department of Defense

No. 883-06 IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 08, 2006
Media Contact: (703) 697-5131/697-5132
Public/Industry(703) 428-0711

Airmen Missing in Action From the Vietnam

 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.

 Air Force Maj. Burke H. Morgan, U.S. Air Force, of Manitou Springs, Colo.,
 was buried Sept. 7 beside his wife, Mary, at the U.S. Air Force Academy.The
 service there coincided with his U.S. Air Force Academy graduating class'
 45th reunion.

 On Aug. 22, 1967, Morgan and a fellow officer took off from Nakhon Phanom
 air base, Thailand, in their A-26A Invader on an armed reconnaissance
 mission over Laos.The crew had radio contact on their mission shortly after
 midnight, but were neither seen nor heard from again.Electronic and visual
 searches of their last-reported location in Xiangkhoang Province, as well
 as over the planned flight path, did not locate the missing aircraft.

 A joint U.S.-Lao People's Democratic Republic team traveled to the province
 in 1993 to interview three informants about various crash sites.The men
 recalled the 1967 crash, as well as the burial of the crew members.They
 also stated that one of the bodies was disinterred by unknown persons in
 1986.

 Four years later, another joint U.S.-Lao team resurveyed the original crash
 site, and requested that the Lao government conduct a unilateral
 investigation.The Lao government was able to confirm that some remains were
 exhumed in the mid-1980s, and promised to continue its investigation.

 Then in 2002, Lao government officials reported that the remains had been
 turned over to a Lao official in 1987 or 1988, but that the official had
 since died.His driver, however, had possession of those remains and had
 been holding them in safekeeping awaiting directions from authorities.

 Scientists of the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command were able to identify
 those remains using a variety of forensic methods, including analysis of
 skeletal and dental remains.

 For additional information on the Defense Department's mission to account
 for missing Americans, visit the DPMO Web site at http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo
 or call (703) 699-1169.

=========================================================
Sat, 09 Sep '06

An American Hero Is Laid To Rest
Sat, 09 Sep '06

Family And Country Waited 39 Years For Closure

Major Burke Morgan was a graduate of the US Air Force Academy who married
his high-school sweetheart, Mary Craig, the day after receiving his
Lieutenant's bars. They had two children, Dana and Kyle.

According to the Academy Spirit, after earning the Distinguished Flying
Cross in 1963, Major Morgan, a Navigator, was killed on August 22, 1967 when
his A-26 crashed in the Plain of Jars region in Laos. Unknown at the time,
he survived the crash, but he and his pilot were killed by enemy soldiers.
Four years later, after receiving unspecified information, the Department of
the Air Force declared them both Killed In Action. Since then, Mrs. Craig
(who had remarried), Dana and Kyle have waited for further word of his fate.

Mrs. Craig died in February after fighting a long illness, and after
learning last November that the Pentagon's POW-Missing Personnel office had
learned what happened to her husband. They told her a former driver of an
official in Laos had held the Major's remains since the war without knowing
what to do with them.

Major Morgan's son, Kyle Craig (adopted by his step-father), was just a
toddler when his father died. He only knows his father from stories told him
by his mother, "Heroic stories," he recalled.

He told the Associated Press he believes his mother fought her illness until
she learned of Major Morgan's fate. "It was great closure for her. She
finally had all the answers she needed."

Major Morgan finally received the recognition accorded to America's fallen.
The US Air Force Academy Class of 1961, Major Morgan's class, held their
45-year reunion to honor his memory.

This past Thursday morning, while his former classmates and family looked
on, 60 "Patriot Guard Riders," local members of a nationwide group,
dismounted after riding their motorcycles into the chapel drive. Taking
positions around the overlook and steps of the chapel, they unfurled flags
and mutely stood post.

Then, following a moving ceremony in the shadow of the Academy's cadet
chapel, with USAF jets flying a missing-man formation overhead, Major Burke
Morgan, a true American Hero, was finally laid to rest next to his wife
Mary.

ANN salutes Major Morgan, and sincerely thanks all those who serve so
selflessly to preserve our great country.

FMI: www.usafa.af.mil

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02/2020

https://dpaa.secure.force.com/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt000000vjG3pEAE

MAJ BURKE HENDERSON MORGAN

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On October 31, 2005, the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC, now DPAA) identified the remains of Major Burke Henderson Morgan, missing from the Vietnam War.

Major Morgan, who entered the U.S. Air Force from Colorado, was a member of the 606th Air Commando Squadron. On August 22, 1967, he was the pilot of an A-26A Invader (serial number 64-17662) on an armed reconnaissance mission over enemy transportation routes in Laos. During the mission, the Invader crashed near the town of Ban Ban. Maj Morgan was killed in the crash, and hostile presence in the area inhibited recovery efforts at the time. In 2005, the government of Laos repatriated a set of remains, which were later identified as those of Maj Morgan.

Major Morgan is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

If you are a family member of this serviceman, you may contact your casualty office representative to learn more about your service member.