Sunday, July 22, 2007

Bob Campbell thought of his brother, Air Force Capt. Clyde W. Campbell, when Neil Armstrong walked on the moon on July 20, 1969. His brother would have been interested because Clyde, a 1962 Longview High School graduate, was a pilot.

"I thought, 'what a wonderful thing he has missed,' " said Bob Campbell, who now lives in Kalispell, Mont. His and Clyde's parents, Jean and Robert Campbell, owned a Longview grocery store. They are now deceased.

The moon walk occurred only a few months after Clyde's plane was shot down over Laos on March 1, 1969. Campbell said the fact that Clyde was not alive to see Armstrong's moon walk is something that has stayed with him through the years.

Another thing that has stayed with him is the fact that his brother's body has never been found.

Diana resident Helen Smith, national historian for the American Ex-Prisoners of War, said Clyde was listed as "Killed In Action, Body Not Recovered" by the Air Force.

His crash site was located in the 1990s, according to Campbell, but it has not been completely excavated for remains or personal effects. Smith is trying to raise awareness of the issue and bring Clyde's remains back to Texas. Smith has worked with the family off and on since 1969.

"Thirty-eight years is too long for not knowing if there are any remains," Smith said.

Thursday would be Clyde's 63rd birthday, and Smith is working with the Vietnam Veterans Association Chapter 987 and the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1183 and Auxiliary in Longview to celebrate his memory. William Perkins, president of Chapter 987 and commander of Post 1183, and his wife, Shirley Perkins, are coordinating a service in Clyde's memory Thursday at First Baptist Church in Longview.

Smith said she is hoping that everyone in Longview will display Prisoners of War/Missing in Action flags or signs on Thursday to raise awareness of the issue. (Organizers of Thursday's event say such flags are generally available at Army-Navy stores. They also can be ordered at Texas Awning & Canvas although they would not arrive before Thursday.)

"Got to keep alive that POW/MIA issue. Too many people still aren't accounted for," Smith said.

Smith has a personal reason for being involved in the issue. Her husband, Allen Smith, was a Japanese prisoner of war for three years during World War II, before they married. After they married, they became active in the American Ex-Prisoners of War, and Smith has continued to be involved since her husband's death in 2000.

Thursday's ceremony will include the presentation of a plaque from Gregg County Judge Bill Stoudt commemorating Clyde Campbell's service and memory. Jennifer Romero, Clyde Campbell's youngest daughter, will be there to receive the plaque.

Romero said the veterans she has been in contact with seem to be embracing her father as a symbol of all the servicemen who are still unaccounted for.

"It's really very touching and it reaches beyond just my family," Romero said.

Romero, who was 5 months old when her father died, said she hadn't really been involved in the search for his remains until she went to a family update in San Antonio four years ago. She said the Air Force was optimistic about going in to excavate at that time and asked for a DNA sample from her grandmother to identify any remains. The excavation never took place, and Romero said she has stopped paying attention to updates from the Air Force because "nothing ever comes of it."

Maj. Brian DeSantis, spokesman for the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, said an excavation mission was planned for March of this year, but the Laotian government told his organization it was not safe. The crash site is in the Houaphan province of Laos, which is known for drug trafficking and violence, DeSantis said.

"We never go somewhere where the safety of our teams cannot be guaranteed," DeSantis said, adding that the teams travel unarmed because they are on a humanitarian mission.

DeSantis said the remains originally recovered from the site would fit in the palm of a person's hand, and there is not enough to prove conclusively that it is Clyde Campbell's crash.

Romero said the event in Longview is more about her father's memory than raising awareness of the POW/MIA issue.

"It would be wonderful if it did have a ripple effect and helped our case or anyone else's, but for me it's about solidarity," she said. "It's about honoring his memory on his birthday."

Deanna Lisle, Clyde's oldest daughter, was 2 years old when her father's plane was shot down.

"There is such a lack of closure in my life over the death of my father. It's like an open wound that is torn open again and again," Lisle said.

"The importance of having him home is more than anyone can imagine. I know that he fought out of love for this country and this country has left him behind and let his family down."

Bob Campbell said he just wants to find out if this is an issue the government will ever address, and said the issue goes beyond just his brother.

"He's just one of many that was walked away from," Campbell said.

He described the effort to bring as his brother home as "38 years of the unknown," and said his original goal was to bring his brother's remains back to Texas before his mother died. When his mother died three years ago, his goal changed to getting his brother back before he dies.

"I would like to have him back in Texas soil," Bob Campbell said. "I would like to have my brother back."