Mystery of jet with US troops onboard that vanished without trace 63 years ago
Josh Layton
A sombre mood prevailed as a resolute group of elite US soldiers waited to board Flying Tiger Line Flight 739 on a secret mission in the early days of the Vietnam war.
They would never reach Saigon and their classified area of operations.
Instead, the 93 US Army Rangers, 11 civilian crew and four Vietnamese citizens onboard would become part of one of the biggest mysteries in aviation history.
The sleek aircraft chartered by the US military vanished over a vast expanse of the Pacific as it headed to the Philippines from Guam, en-route to Saigon, on March 16, 1962.
The stops were intended as refuelling points between Travis Air Force Base in northern California and the embattled Vietnamese capital on a 7,746 mile journey.
At a time when the Donald Trump administration has ordered the release of files relating to the assassination of the then President John F. Kennedy, the loss of those who gave their lives answering his call remains one of the darkest places in the US state’s archives
Crew on a tanker near where the Lockheed L-1048 Super Constellation should have been at the time reported a vapour trail passing behind a cloud, followed by an ‘intensely luminous’ explosion.
A Flying Tiger Line aircraft like the one charted by the US military for the Vietnam mission (Picture: File image)
The report came from the Standard Oil Company vessel S.S T.L Lenzen which headed in the direction of the flash sighted in the early hours of the morning but found no wreckage.
One of the largest searches up to that point in history then covered more than 200,000 square miles.
But no bodies or debris have ever been found.
For the families left behind, their loss would be compounded by a lack of answers about the nature of the mission, which took place as Kennedy increased military assistance to the South Vietnamese three years before the US joined the ground war in earnest.
Theories about the disaster range from sabotage — an International Civil Aviation Organization accident report noted that the aircraft was left in a dimly lit and insecure area at Andersen Air Force Base in Guam — to the flight having landed and all those on board being taken prisoner.
The Ranger contingent was mainly composed of communication specialists hand-picked by Kennedy as part of a covert operation also involving the CIA, according to some sources.
According to Wreaths Across America, which remembers fallen US service personnel, the president had approved FTLF 739 for a reconnaissance mission to survey Vietnam.
US Army Ranger SP4 Donald Sargent and his comrades are being remembered 63 years on from the tragedy (Picture: Jennifer Kirk via Wreaths Across America)
US Army Ranger SP4 Donald A. Sargent and his comrades are being remembered 63 years on (Picture: Jennifer Kirk via Wreaths Across America)
One memory stands out from those shared publicly by relatives.
Specialist Donald A. Sargent behaved strangely before the flight, according to his family from Portland, Maine. The 19-year-old kept going up to his sister, the last relative to see him, asking for one more hug.
The recollection comes from Sargent’s niece, Jennifer Kirk, who told the New York Post, ‘it was almost as if he knew he was never coming back.’
US Air Force veteran Anthony L. Wahl was originally meant to be on Flight 739 before being diverted to another task while preparing to board the doomed jet.
He has described his comrades as ‘a sombre group’ who ‘were aware that they were flying into harm’s way, but that was their duty, and they were ready to go.’
Flying Tiger Line Flight 739 went missing over a remote stretch of the Pacific on March 16, 1962 (Picture: Katie Ingham, Metro)
Nine months later he was sent to Vietnam in a covert operation to install communication equipment in a control tower, leading him to remark, ‘How ironic is that?’
Amber Caron, of Wreaths Across America, told Metro of the impact the tragedy and continued lack of answers has had on those left behind.
‘The question of why we have so far not had any answers to how this could have happened is one that the families have put a lot of time and effort into trying to understand a little bit more,’ she said.
‘There are several reasons, the first is that this happened in 1962, prior to the United States’ official involvement in the Vietnam war.
‘Because of that there was some secrecy about what was taking place and why they were going there.
‘As a result, that information has not been made publicly available. Then there’s the fact that the plane “went missing” over one of the deepest, most vast expanses of the ocean.
James H Taylor who was onboard the Tiger Line flight Posted by: Dianna Crumpler
SP4 James Henry Taylor is another of the Tiger Line soldiers who is being remembered (Picture: Dianna Crumpler via Wreaths Across America)
‘Nothing was ever recovered, there was never a trace of the plane found.
‘For the families, it was life-altering.
‘Most of them assumed that their loved ones had been taken prisoner of war and that they would return.
‘It was devastating, and they still have not had any closure after all these years.
‘It has impacted all the families and the generations that have followed.’
In the absence of evidence — not even an oil slick was found — the loved ones have spent decades struggling to fill the void, Ms Caron said.
She cited the case of a wife of one of those onboard, who is now in her 80s, who has never moved home in case her husband returns one day.
Ms Caron also spoke of the son of another soldier who was an infant at the time and has reached his 60s without ever having known the truth about how he lost his dad.
‘The priority is to remember those on board for their lives and their service and to continue to teach generations about service and sacrifice,’ she said.
‘It’s not just about their service but that of their families over the past 63 years.’
The names of the Flight 739 personnel are not on the black granite Vietnam memorial in Washington DC due to the fact they were not officially lost during the conflict.
Instead, the focus has fallen on a memorial inscribed with their names founded by Wreaths Across America in a tranquil area of Columbia Falls in the eastern state of Maine.
The ‘tip land’, named after the tips on the balsam fir trees which are adorned with thousands of dog tags belonging to fallen service personnel, was already a place of remembrance before the installation.
On Sunday, the 63rd anniversary will be commemorated with a reading of the names and remarks from supporters of the families, culminating in a blessing.
‘We thought the least we could do was to make a memorial to the Flying Tiger Flight soldiers, which is in the Boston Valley tip lands, a beautiful place which is open to everyone,’ Ms Caron said.
‘We opened that in May 2021 and brought in as many families as we could find from across the country who were able and willing to come.
A memorial has been inscribed with the names of the soldiers and crew who were onboard Flight 739 (Picture: Wreaths Across America)
‘For a lot of them it was a closure to see their loved one’s name engraved on the memorial.
‘We promised Clifton Sargent, who is 91 and whose brother Donald was on the flight, that we would hold a remembrance ceremony every year on the anniversary to say their names, tell the story and make sure people remember. Clifton’s daughter and his son will both be there on Sunday for this year’s event.
‘We feel like this is the least we can do to remember and honour the soldiers.
‘I’m sure this is one of many stories like this from Vietnam and other conflicts where people sacrificed their lives for their country without recognition and without questions, so it’s very important to honour them.’
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As the Trump administration continues to seek answers about Kennedy’s death, any light about those who were lost in his service is likely to take a while longer to come.
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