On the night of 23/24 Nov 1967 an RF-4C (tail number 65-0844) of the 11th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron was lost while on a weather recon mission over North Vietnam.
One report suggests the aircraft went down over the Plain of Jars in Central Laos; no wreckage was ever found.
The two crewmen were classified as Missing in Action:
Col Brendan P Foley, New York, NY (Pic: Right)
Capt Ronald M Mayercik, Edison, NJ (Pic: Left)Their remains have not been recovered.
Foley and Mayercik are two of nearly 600 Americans that were lost in Laos. The Pathet Lao, stated on several occasions that they held American prisoners, but Laos was not included in the Paris Peace agreements ending the war.
As a consequence, there were no negotiations for American POWs held in Laos.
Not one American held in Laos has ever been released.
Men like Foley and Mayercik were abandoned to the enemy.
In 1979, Sean O'Toolis, an Irish-American, was touring Bong Song Camp, 40 miles south of Hanoi, on an IRA gun-buying mission, when he alleges he met and spoke with American POWs Brendan Foley and Wade Groth, who were prison workmates. He also claims to have spoken to men named MacDonald, Jenning and an O'Hare or O'Hara. He brought a message to Foley's brother and fingerprints of Foley and O'Hara. He identified old photos of Groth, and gave believable descriptions of Foley and Groth.
Reports continue to be received that Americans are alive today, being held captive. Whether Foley and Mayercik are among them is not known, but they certainly do not deserve the abandonment they received at the hands of the country they so proudly served.
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