Name: Leon Frederick Haas
Rank/Branch: O3/US Navy
Unit: Attack Squadron 155, USS ORISKANY (CVA 34)
Date of Birth: 03 April 1943
Home City of Record: Newton NJ
Date of Loss: 17 July 1972
Country of Loss: North Vietnam/Over Water
Loss Coordinates: 184759N 1954757E (WF890860)
Status (in 1973): Killed/Body Not Recovered
Category: 5
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: A7B
Other Personnel in Incident:
(none missing)
Source:
Compiled by Homecoming II Project 15 May 1990 from one or more of the
following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with
POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews.
REMARKS:
SYNOPSIS:
The USS ORISKANY was a World War II-era carrier on duty in Vietnam as
early as 1964. The ORISKANY at one time carried the RF8A (number 144608) flown
by Maj. John H. Glenn, the famous Marine astronaut (and later Senator) flew in
his 1957 transcontinental flight. In October, 1966 the ORISKANY endured a tragic
fire which killed 44 men onboard, but was soon back on station. In 1972, the
ORISKANY had an at-sea accident which resulted in the loss of one of its
aircraft elevators, and later lost a screw that put the carrier into drydock in
Yokosuka, Japan for major repairs, thus delaying its involvement until the late
months of the war.
The Vought A7 Corsair II was a single-seat attack jet utilized by both the Navy and Air Force in Vietnam. The aircraft was designed to meet the Navy's need for a subsonic attack plane able to carry a greater load of non-nuclear weapons that the A4 Skyhawk. The aircraft's unique design completely freed the wingspace for bomb loading; the Pratt and Whitney jet engine was beneath the fuselage of the aircraft. The Corsair was used primarily for close air support and interdiction, although it was also used for reconnaissance. A Corsair is credited with flying the last official combat mission in the war - bombing a target in Cambodia on 15 August 1973.
Lieutenant Leon F. Haas was a pilot assigned to Attack Squadron 155 on board the USS ORISKANY. On July 17, 1972, Haas was assigned a night surveillance mission near the city of Vinh in Nghe An Province, North Vietnam.
During the mission, Haas flew his aircraft into the water about 5 miles off the coast of North Vietnam in an attempt to evade hostile fire or possible mid-air collision with another aircraft. He was not recovered, and was thought to have died when the aircraft crashed. He was initially listed Missing in Action, but his status was later changed to Killed in Action.
Haas is listed among the missing because his remains were never found to send home to the country he served. But, for his family, the case seems clear that he died on that day. The fact that they have no body to bury with honor is not of great significance.
For other who are missing, however, the evidence leads not to death, but to survival. Since the war ended, nearly 10,000 reports received relating to Americans still held captive in Indochina have convinced experts that hundreds of men are still alive, waiting for their country to rescue them. The notion that Americans are dying without hope in the hands of a long-ago enemy belies the idea that we left Vietnam with honor. It also signals that tens of thousands of lost lives were a frivolous waste of our best men.
