VIETNAM POW/MIA BIO: ROSS, Joseph Shaw - Kentucky From: Margaret Bates Date: Mon 12 Mar 2001 ROSS, JOSEPH SHAW Name: Joseph Shaw Ross Rank/Branch: O2/US Air Force Unit: 399th Tactical Fighter Squadron, Da Nang Air Base Date of Birth: 26 January 1943 Home City of Record: Fort Thomas KY Date of Loss: 01 August 1968 Country of Loss: North Vietnam Loss Coordinates: 172235N 1061310E (XE274203) Status (in 1973): Missing In Action Category: 3 Acft/Vehicle/Ground: F4D (pilot) Other Personnel in Incident: William J. Thompson (missing) Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project (919/527-8079) 01 April 1991 from one or more of the following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews. Copyright 1991 Homecoming II Project. REMARKS: SYNOPSIS: Maj. William Thompson and 1Lt. Joseph Ross comprised the crew of the lead aircraft in a flight of two F4-D's which departed Da Nang Air Base, Republic of Vietnam, on August 1, 1968, on a night armed reconnaissance mission over North Vietnam. Enroute, the flight was diverted to look for truck traffic near their original target. Locating the traffic, Thompson dropped several sets of flares and illuminated a group of trucks. He told his wingman to circle the area while he made a bombing pass on the trucks. As the wingman circled, he noted a large explosion within several hundred feet of the target area, and immediately attempted to contact Thompson, but with no success. The explosion occurred about 3:10 a.m. The wingman saw no parachutes and heard no beepers. About daybreak, search planes heard an emergency electronic signal which seemed to come from the area where Thompson and Ross were lost. Searchers were unable to get any response to calls over the emergency frequency, and terminated the search around noon. Flare chutes were found near the truck target, but no wreckage of the F4 was found. The area in which Thompson and Ross went down is near the Ban Karai Pass on the Laos/Vietnam border. It is mountainous with peaks ranging from 3500 to 4000 feet and deep valleys dense with multiple canopy jungle. One searcher described the mountains as composed "of sharp pointed grey rock karsts in great frequency closely jammed up like the stalactites of a sound suppression chamber". Thompson and Ross were lost in harsh, largely unpopulated terrain, and without access to the area, it cannot be known with any certainty what happened to them. There have been hundreds of reports, however, of Americans who remain in captivity years after the war's end. Two of them could be Thompson and Ross. Their families will not know until those live prisoners are brought home. Joseph S. Ross was promoted to the rank of Captain and William J. Thompson to the rank of Colonel during the period they were maintained Missing in Action. ***************************************************************** USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free genealogical information on the Internet, data may be freely used for personal research and by non-commercial entities as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages may not be reproduced in any format or presentation by other organizations or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for profit or any form of presentation, must obtain the written consent of the file submitter, or his legal representative and then contact the listed USGENWEB archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. *****************************************************************