We will do that and not fail in that effort. We place the return of our missing in action as the very highest of our priorities. That is reflected in the effort being made out here today at this particular site. Cohen said the purpose of his Don Phu visit was to show the incredible and complex effort being made so that the families of the missing will have some measure of comfort that their government is doing everything possible to bring their loved ones home. Eyewitness accounts indicate an F-4B Phantom II aircraft was shot down in May 1967 at the site here, known as Ha Tay.
Villagers say one man ejected, was captured and transported to Hanoi.
That man was radar intercept officer Lt. Cmdr. William Stark, who was released during Operation Homecoming in March 1973. Stark never saw or heard from Rich again. Recovery experts have dug a crater where an eyewitness said the crash occurred. Overseen by an anthropologist and other task force members, Vietnamese workers in a bucket brigade steadily passed buckets of mud to be carefully screened.