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PenJer1 Enterprises Tribute to:

**MAJOR THOMAS ALLEN DUCKETT**
Home town: LaGrange, Ga.
Date of Birth: Nov. 12, 1946
Date of Loss: Dec. 12, 1970
AND

**COLONEL OWEN GEORGE SKINNER**
Hometown: Lima Ohio
Date of Birth: Nov. 18, 1933
Date of Loss: Dec. 12, 1970

~ I WILL NOT FORGET ~

No~ I will not forget
that while I was a freshman in
High School living a care free life,
YOU were in a foreign land fighting for freedom.
No~ I will not forget
that while I had a warm bed to sleep in,
having dreams of my future, YOU were far from
home in a strange land fighting for the future.
No~ I will not forget
that while I was laughing and making everlasting
memories with my friends, YOU were in despair
and were hoping that the vision's of the day's
battle would not be everlasting memories.
No~ I will not forget
that almost 3 decades later I still have a warm bed
to sleep in, still having dreams of my future
and YOU are STILL in a far away land with no future.
NO~ I WILL NOT FORGET.....
PenJer1
©1999 All Rights Reserved


UPDATE:
Now it has been ALMOST 4 DECADES that Thomas and Owen have been missing.
Their families are still searching for
clues, their questions have still not
been answered after nearly 40 YEARS...
PenJer1
2006


Name: Thomas Allen Duckett
Rank/Branch: O2/US Air Force
AND
Name: Owen George Skinner
Rank/Branch: 04/US Air Force

Unit: 23rd Tactical Air Support Squadron, Nakhon Phanom Airport, Thailand
Country of Loss: Laos
Loss Coordinates: 163900N 1061900E (XD410417
Status (in 1973): Missing In Action
Category: 2
Acft/Vehicle/Ground: O2A



SYNOPSIS:

1Lt.Thomas A. Duckett and Maj. Owen G.Skinner comprised the crew of an O2A spotter aircraft which departed NKP Airport on December 12, 1970 on a Forward Air Control (FAC) mission over Laos.
(NOTE: While Defense Department records indicate that Duckett was the observer, and Skinner the pilot, U.S. Air Force records indicate that Duckett was the pilot. The military occupational specialties (MOS) of both men are classified, and it cannot be determined which
was the pilot and which was the observer.)
The Cessna O2 was a stopgap replacement aircraft for the O1 until the North American OV10 arrived in Vietnam. The Air Force operated 346 of the aircraft. The A model flown by Duckett and Skinner served the function of marking targets
with marking rockets. It was a small, poorly armored aircraft which normally flew unarmed.
While the aircraft was over Savannakhet Province, Laos, about 6 miles east southeast of the city of Sepone, it was shot down. After the aircraft crashed, radio contact WAS made with 1Lt. Duckett. The limited information available
publicly does not reveal whether Skinner also survived the crash of the aircraft, nor does it indicate that ANY efforts were made to recover the crew. Family members report, however, that the following day, search aircraft located the aircraft intact on the ground in a small clearing. There was no sign of fire damage to the aircraft, and parachutes were seen in the area of the crash. For
the following two days electronic emergency radio beepers were heard, but could never be pinpointed as they were shifting frequently. Hostile ground fire and activity prevented a ground search. Both men were declared MISSING IN ACTION.
Perhaps because the war in Laos was "SECRET", little information was made available to the families of Skinner and Duckett regarding their crash and fates. Most of the information was classified and unavailable to them. Like many POW/MIA families, they resorted to filing numerous requests of Government agencies
through the Freedom of Information Act. One such classified report received by the Duckett family described an American prisoner fitting Duckett's description who was identified in Laos in
February 1974.

***Thomas A. Duckett was promoted to the rank of Major and Owen G. Skinner to the
rank of Colonel during the period they were maintained Missing in Action.***

Like Duckett and Skinner, many Americans downed in Laos were known to be alive
after the crash of their aircraft, or when they were last seen on the ground. Even though the Pathet Lao stated they held "tens of tens" of American prisoners, they maintained that, after the war, they would be released only from Laos. The U.S. Government, in negotiating the end of American involvement in the second Indochina War, did not negotiate with the communist Pathet Lao, a governmental faction they did not officially recognize.
AS A RESULT,
NOT ONE-
NOT A SINGLE ONE-
OF THE NEARLY 600
MISSING AMERICAN SOLDIER'S FROM LAOS HAVE EVER
BEEN RECOVERED.
DEAR GOD-
WHY HAS OUR GOVERNMENT
FORSAKEN THEM?...

Reports from the region continue to mount that there are still Americans in captivity in Southeast Asia. Americans who fought for their country. Americans who should be home. If there is only ONE-just ONE remaining, we owe this person our very best efforts to bring them home.
PenJer1

Each one of us needs to let our president know that we support him and that we want the men and women that served our country so proudly to come home!!!
CONTACT THE WHITE HOUSE


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OH YEAH-BY THE WAY-
OSAMA BIN LADEN
You are a DIRTY, SPINELESS, STINKING BASTARD!
Someday God will send you straight to HELL
for your actions on thousands of innocent people!

Greater love hath no man,
than to lay down his life
for his brother.


WANT YOUR BLINKIE ADDED TO THOMAS AND OWEN'S COLLECTION?
CONTACT ME AND I WILL GLADLY ADD YOU!





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