Name: John Wadsworth Consolvo, Jr.
Rank/Branch: O3/US Marine Corps
Unit: Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 212, 1st Brigade, MAG 24
Date of Birth: 08 January 1944
Home City of Record: Ft. Belvoir VA
Date of Loss: 07 May 1972
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 164800N 1065700E (YD010555)
Status (in 1973): Missing In Action
Category: 2
Acft/Vehicle/Ground: F4J
Other Personnel In Incident:
(backseater rescued)
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:
Capt. John W. Consolvo was on a combat mission out of Da Nang, South
Vietnam when his aircraft was hit by ground fire as he pulled off target. He
flew the aircraft about 18 miles to a safer bail-out area before the craft
became uncontrollable. Although Consolvo's mission was in South Vietnam near the
DMZ, the ground fire that struck his aircraft came from Laos.
Consolvo radioed that the aircraft was incapacitated and ordered his radar intercept officer to eject. The officer successfully reached the ground, was rescued and returned to Da Nang.
The F4 crashed 3-4 miles from the location the RIO landed, in enemy territory (probably just inside Laos). Although the RIO did not see his pilot eject, he believed he could have easily ejected and probably did. The wingman and forward air controller on the mission did not see him eject, but they had been unable to keep the plane constantly in sight.
John Consolvo flew over 150 combat missions on his first tour of Vietnam. He was into his second tour when he was shot down on May 7, 1972. He had been in the Marine Corps since 1966.
If John Consolvo was unfortunate enough to be apprehended by the Pathet Lao, he is among nearly 600 Americans who disappeared without trace. The Pathet Lao stated on several occasions that they held "tens of tens" of American prisoners, yet not one man held in Laos was ever released - or negotiated for. Circumstances surrounding his crash indicate that the Vietnamese or Lao could account for his fate - alive or dead. John Consolvo does not deserve the abandonment he has received by the country he proudly served.
John W. Consolvo, Jr. graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1966.
