Unit: H/HS MWHG1, 1st Marine Air Wing
Date of Birth: 28 March 1935
Home City of Record: Brockton, MA
Date of Loss: 29 April 1966
Country of Loss: Laos
Loss Coordinates: 170700N 1060600E (XD170926)
Status: (in 1973) Missing in Action
Category: 2 Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: A4E
Other Personnel in Incident: (none missing)
Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 15 June 1990 from one or more of the following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews.
It is also partly due to the fact that the U.S. never negotiated the freedom of Americans held by the Lao.
Capt. William F. Mullen was a Marine A4 pilot. The aircraft he flew, the Douglas Aircraft A4 Skyhawk was a lightweight attack and ground support aircraft. the design emphasized low-speed control and stability during take-off and landing as well as strength enough for catapult launch and carrier landings. The plane was compact, but in spite of its diminutive size, packed a devastating punch and performed well where speed and maneuverablity were essential.
Barbara Mullen received a visit and a telegram from the Marine Corps telling her that her husband had been shot down, but that "every effort" was being made to rescue him. Barbara's experiences in trying to find information on her lost husband led to her later book, "Every Effort".Barbara spoke with notables from Eugene McCarthy, John Kerry, George McGovern to Henry Kissinger and Ross Perot. She found interesting information. Capt. Mullen was identified by other pilots as having been captured. She learned from an Australian freelance photographer who had been held for 29 days by the Pathet Lao guerrillas that some 200 Americans were being held in Laos. The guerrillas told him there was an underground bakery in Sam Neua which made bread especially for the American prisoners, who were not used to a rice diet. The underground complex at Sam Neua was used because of intense U.S. bombing.
During the war years, the Pathet Lao stated publicly that they held "tens of tens" of American prisoners. Yet, when peace agreements were signed in Paris ending American involvement in the war in Vietnam, the families of the men lost in Laos were horrified to learn that Kissinger had not included Laos in the peace agreements.
The years passed and Barbara with two children to raise finally remarried and began a new life. Bill Mullen will forever be a part of her family. Her book was written to tell others of the heartbreak she endured as the wife of a missing serviceman.
Today, Barbara and her family do not know if Bill Mullen survived, or if he was captured. But they have watched as over 10,000 reports relating to Americans missing in Southeast Asia have poured into the U.S. Government's intelligence community. They believe that Americans are still alive in Southeast Asia -- and
they believe that the abandonment of these men is one of our nation's greatest shames.
