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Fifth Generation
91. James Howard
ACKLEY97 was born
on 4 Jan 1920 in Maysville, Mason , Kentucky.63,70 1930 census has birth place as
PA He appeared in the census in 1930 in Pennsylvania. He Enlisted
in the military on 9 May 1942 in US Army Air Corps63 James H Ackley
Name: James H Ackley
Birth Year: 1920
Race: White, citizen
Nativity State or Country: Kentucky
State: Pennsylvania
County or City: Allegheny
Enlistment Date: 9 May 1942
Branch: Air Corps
Branch Code: Air Corps
Grade: Corporal
Grade Code: Corporal
Term of Enlistment: Enlistment for the duration of the War or other emergency,
plus six months, subject to the discretion of the President or otherwise according
to law
Component: Army of the United States - includes the following: Voluntary
enlistments effective December 8, 1941 and thereafter; One year enlistments of
National Guardsman whose State enlistment expires while in the Federal Service;
Officers appointed in the Army of
Source: Civil Life
Education: 4 years of high school
Civil Occupation: Electric Truck Driver
Marital Status: Single, without dependents
He died on 7 Mar 1973 in Maung Pak Beng, Laos.98 ACKLEY, JAMES HOWARD Name: Ackley, James Howard Rank/Branch:
Civilian/Air America Date of Birth: 04 January 1920 Home City of Record: Date
of Loss: 07 March 1973 Country of Loss: Laos Loss Coordinates: 195145N 1010900E
(QB230980) Status (in 1973): Missing In Action Category: 2 Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground:
C123K Refno: 1985 Other Personnel In Incident: Clarence N. Driver (missing) Source:
Compiled by Homecoming II Project 15 October 1990 from one or more of the following:
raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA families,
published sources, interviews. Updated by the P.O.W. NETWORK. REMARKS: SYNOPSIS:
During the Vietnam war, Air America contracted with CIA to fly in Laos transporting
a variety of supplies. Because the United States "was not at war" in
Laos, some AA activities were secret. CIA considered its work important enough
to deceive the U.S. Congress, and obtained a large portion of its funding through
AID dollars that Congress believed were for civilian help. Although Air America
openly spoke of its humanitarian drops of rice, blankets and medicine, they also
conducted many "hard rice" drops - ammunition, grenades, bombs and
weapons to the secret CIA directed indigenous army. Many Air America pilots were
crack pilots from World War II and Korea who just were not ready to quit flying
in the challenging arena of war. Some took the job because they believed that
in doing so, they could help fight communism. Laos was a tough assignment. Not
only were maps antiquated, forcing the pilots to "eyeball" their way
through the countryside, but the weather and terrain could also be quite unpredictable.
Refugees created by the war depended on Air America, whose planes could alter
weeks of starvation, when the wounded suffered without medical supplies, in a
single drop. Enough food and supplies could be dropped in a single morning to
supply and feed five thousand people for a month. The secret army depended on
the AA materiel drops to such an extent that they sometimes resorted to trickery
to make sure they occurred. On one occasion, a pilot observed the wind sock at
a village strip hanging straight down, but when he landed found the wind dangerously
strong. An amiable native explained, "We know plane not land when sock flies,
so we put rocks in sock." At the foot of any runway, an AA pilot could encounter
armed communist troops intent on preventing him from ever flying again. Many
planes returned to base peppered with bullet holes, and some were destroyed.
Others were downed and their crews captured. On March 7, 1973, a C123K flown
by Clarence Driver on which James Ackley was a crewmember was sent on a mission
over Laos. The C123K differed from other C123 models in that it had the addition
of auxiliary turbojet engines mounted in underwing pods. While this addition
did little to increase the speed of the "Provider," it added greater
power for quicker climbing on takeoff and power for maintaining altitude. Driver's
aircraft crashed in Louangphrabang Province, Laos, about 25 miles north of the
Laos/Thailand border near the city of Pak Beng. Ackley and Driver were classified
Missing In Action. As late as 1984, reports were being received that at least
Driver was alive, in good health, and being held in a group of 8 American prisoners.
Four of the original 12 prisoners had died of dysentary, and two who were still
resisting had rings in their noses and were treated like beasts of burden. A
private, unauthorized rescue plan was formulated to attempt to free him in 1984.
The attempt was unsuccessful. Over 10,000 reports relating to Americans missing
in Southeast Asia have been received by the U.S. Government since 1975. A Pentagon
panel concluded in 1986 that there were at least 100 men still alive. Ackley
and Driver are two of nearly 600 Americans lost in Laos. Although the Pathet
Lao publicly stated that they held "tens of tens" of Americans, NOT
ONE MAN returned that had been held in Laos. The U.S. has yet to negotiate their
release. Clarence Driver's daughter Sharon describes the agony of their uncertainty,
"Imagine yourself on a telephone and ther person says 'hold on, I'll be
right back,' and they never come back...you just keep holding on." How much
longer must these men wait for their country to bring them home?
He served in the military WW II in Career Air Force retiring in 1963.63 He was career Air Force, having
flown B-25s in WWII, until his retirement
in 1963.
James Ackley was a pilot for Air America working out of Vientien, Laos
until 1973 when his C123, piloted by Clarence Driver, did not return. It
is unclear exactly what happened but high altitude photos revealed the
remains of a crash site which could have been his plane. The crash was
within range of a known radar-controlled anti-aircraft weapons site. It was
very stormy that day and their plane could have been blown off-course.
Name: Ackley, James Howard
Rank/Branch: Civilian/Air America
Date of Birth: 04 January 1920
Home City of Record:
Date of Loss: 07 March 1973
Country of Loss: Laos
Loss Coordinates: 195145N 1010900E (QB230980)
Status (in 1973): Missing In Action
Category: 2
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: C123K
Refno: 1985
Other Personnel In Incident: Clarence N. Driver (missing)
Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 15 October 1990 from one or more
of the following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources,
correspondence with POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews. Updated
by the P.O.W. NETWORK.
REMARKS:
SYNOPSIS: During the Vietnam war, Air America contracted with CIA to fly in
Laos transporting a variety of supplies. Because the United States "was
not
at war" in Laos, some AA activities were secret. CIA considered its work
important enough to deceive the U.S. Congress, and obtained a large portion
of its funding through AID dollars that Congress believed were for civilian
help. Although Air America openly spoke of its humanitarian drops of rice,
blankets and medicine, they also conducted many "hard rice" drops -
ammunition, grenades, bombs and weapons to the secret CIA directed
indigenous army.
Many Air America pilots were crack pilots from World War II and Korea who
just were not ready to quit flying in the challenging arena of war. Some
took the job because they believed that in doing so, they could help fight
communism. Laos was a tough assignment. Not only were maps antiquated,
forcing the pilots to "eyeball" their way through the countryside,
but the
weather and terrain could also be quite unpredictable.
Refugees created by the war depended on Air America, whose planes could
alter weeks of starvation, when the wounded suffered without medical
supplies, in a single drop. Enough food and supplies could be dropped in a
single morning to supply and feed five thousand people for a month. The
secret army depended on the AA materiel drops to such an extent that they
sometimes resorted to trickery to make sure they occurred. On one occasion,
a pilot observed the wind sock at a village strip hanging straight down, but
when he landed found the wind dangerously strong. An amiable native
explained, "We know plane not land when sock flies, so we put rocks in
sock."
At the foot of any runway, an AA pilot could encounter armed communist
troops intent on preventing him from ever flying again. Many planes returned
to base peppered with bullet holes, and some were destroyed. Others were
downed and their crews captured.
On March 7, 1973, a C123K flown by Clarence Driver on which James Ackley was
a crewmember was sent on a mission over Laos. The C123K differed from other
C123 models in that it had the addition of auxiliary turbojet engines
mounted in underwing pods. While this addition did little to increase the
speed of the "Provider," it added greater power for quicker climbing
on
takeoff and power for maintaining altitude. Driver's aircraft crashed in
Louangphrabang Province, Laos, about 25 miles north of the Laos/Thailand
border near the city of Pak Beng. Ackley and Driver were classified Missing
In Action.
As late as 1984, reports were being received that at least Driver was alive,
in good health, and being held in a group of 8 American prisoners. Four of
the original 12 prisoners had died of dysentary, and two who were still
resisting had rings in their noses and were treated like beasts of burden. A
private, unauthorized rescue plan was formulated to attempt to free him in
1984. The attempt was unsuccessful.
Over 10,000 reports relating to Americans missing in Southeast Asia have
been received by the U.S. Government since 1975. A Pentagon panel concluded
in 1986 that there were at least 100 men still alive. Ackley and Driver are
two of nearly 600 Americans lost in Laos. Although the Pathet Lao publicly
stated that they held "tens of tens" of Americans, NOT ONE MAN returned
that
had been held in Laos. The U.S. has yet to negotiate their release.
Clarence Driver's daughter Sharon describes the agony of their uncertainty,
"Imagine yourself on a telephone and ther person says 'hold on, I'll be
right back,' and they never come back...you just keep holding on."
How much longer must these men wait for their country to bring them home?
James Howard ACKLEY and Lillian Margaret JAMISON were married on 15 Dec 1943
in Atlantic City, Atlantic , New Jersey. James
Howard ACKLEY and Living had the following children:
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