Robert Douglas Hauer

  Missing In Action  

SUMMARY

Name: Robert Douglas Hauer Rank/Branch: O2/US Air Force (Promoted to O3 while in Missing status.) Unit:  Date of Birth: 29 November 1946 Home City of Record: Brookline MA Date of Loss: 05 September 1970 Country of Loss: South Vietnam Loss Coordinates: 122300 N 1085200E (BP680697) Status (in 1973): Missing In Action Category: 4 Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: O2A Other Personnel in Incident: (none missing)

SYNOPSIS

SYNOPSIS: The Cessna O2 served as a stopgap replacement for the O1 until the North American AV10A arrived in Vietnam.  The Bird Dog had lacked adequate armor, and so did the O2.  The O2, however, had greater range and double the number of target marking rockets as the Bird Dog, making it more desirable for its intended missions. The O2A served a number of forward air controllers in Southeast Asia.  Either flying along or carrying a second crewman, these pilots searched out targets, marked them, determined the location of friendly troops, and directed air strikes.  Their missions frequently brought them over enemy troops at low altitude and slow speeds, making them vulnerable to ground fire. 1Lt. Robert D. Hauer was the pilot of an O2A on a mission over South Vietnam on September 5, 1970.  At a point about 25 miles west of the city of Nha Trang in Khanh Hoa Province, Hauer's aircraft went down and he was listed Missing in Action. The Defense Intelligence Agency further expanded Hauer's Missing in Action class- ification to include an enemy knowledge ranking of 4.  Category 4 indicates "unknown knowledge" and includes individuals whose time and place of loss incident are unknown (e.g. aircrew members downed at unknown locations or ground personnel separated from their unit at an unknown time or place), and those individuals who do not meet the criteria of Categories 1 and 2 ("confirmed" and "suspect" knowledge). Hauer is one of nearly 3000 Americans who remained unaccounted for at the end of the Vietnam War.  Of this number, many remains have been returned, and others have been otherwise accounted for.  In early 1990, 2309 remained unaccounted for. Since American involvement in Vietnam ended in 1975, nearly 10,000 reports relating to Americans missing, prisoner, or otherwise unaccounted for in Indochina have been received by the U.S. Government.  Many officials, having examined this largely classified information, have reluctantly concluded that many Americans are still alive today, held captive by our long-ago enemy. Whether Hauer survived the crash of his aircraft to be captured by the enemy is not known.  It is not known if he might be among those thought to be still alive today.  What is certain, however, is that as long as even one American remains alive, held against his will, we owe him our very best efforts to bring him to freedom.