Capt. Appelhans went MIA 50 years ago

Of the 2,646 Servicemen reported Missing in Action (MIA) during the Vietnam War, a total of those still classified as missing totals 1,602, according to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency.

Of those still MIA, nearly 300 who remain missing were lost in Laos including a former Phillips County resident who was last seen 50 years ago.

U.S. Air Force Capt. Richard "Dick" Appelhans, a former Dodson resident went missing in October of 1967. A headline in the October 19 issue of the Phillips County News that year states "Captain Appelhans Missing in Vietnam" but the truth of the matter was that Capt. Appelhans and his co-pilot, Capt. George W. Clarke, went missing in eastern Laos when the RF4 Phantom they were flying vanished.

"My mother was devastated," said Storm Christopherson. "We all took it very hard, but my mother took it the hardest."

Christopherson is the younger sister and only sibling of Capt. Appelhans. Christopherson, who now lives in Columbia Falls, Mont., said that her brother was well liked in the community, always with a smile on his face and always with an accordion in hand.

"He took that thing everywhere," she said. "He even took it to Vietnam."

Capt. Appelhans, the son of Dodson's Evelyn (deceased 1976) and Jake Appelhans (deceased 1991) was a member of the 12th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron which was located on the Tan Son Nhut Airbase in South Vietnam. On October 16, 1967 - just 13 days before his 30th birthday - Capt. Appelhans and Capt. Clark were on a nighttime reconnaissance mission over Saravane Province, Laos, when radio and radar contact with the aircraft was lost, according to the Homecoming II Project. The Homecoming II Project was complied with raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence and last updated by the P.O.W. Network in 2016. Aerial searches were conducted at the time of the disappearance of Captions Appelhans and Clark, but no trace of the missing aircraft or its crew were found. During the search, no parachutes were seen, no wreckage found or emergency beepers heard. At the time the formal search operation was terminated, both the men were listed as MIA.

The story in the 1967 PCN states that Capt. Appelhans had returned to Vietnam only a few weeks prior to going missing as he had previously spent 30 days with his parents at home in Dodson.

"He spent a lot of that time helping our mother with her mail route in Zortman," Christopherson recalled.

In February of 2016, a presentation entitled "Where the Hell is Richard Appelhans" was held at the POW/MIA Museum in St. Louis, Mo., by Paul Clever of Olive Branch, Miss.

In 1969, when Clever was six-years-old, his father - TSgt Louis Clever - and nine other American Servicemen went missing in Laos following a classified mission over the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Southern Laos. After years of research, Clever and his wife, Nita, made a second trip to Laos to what they believed to be the crash site of his father's plane. DNA testing of remains found by Paul and Nita revealed the identification of three crew members, including Paul's father. In May of 2015, TSgt Louis Clever was laid to rest alongside his wife Deborah Clever at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery near St. Louis, Mo. (A complete video account entitled "Separated in Life & Death" can be viewed at https://youtu.be/kOn6vH96PJU).

During his years of research, Clever came across the story of Dodson's Capt. Appelhans. During in his research, Clever came across testimony from a Thai military officer that described an Air Force Officer named "Richard" who was once held in a POW camp. Many physical attributes aligned with Capt. Appelhans and prompted Clever to continue his research on the missing Dodson native. (The two-part discussion on Capt. Clever can be viewed at (www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IvqePBDuag&t=298s.)

"The Thai witness said that there were seven white guys and one black guy," Clever said. "When I was reading the documents, I was like 'there aren't that many black guys in Laos'. It was a different kind of war in Laos...the African Americans hadn't broken down the barriers to be in the circles that were flying missions into Laos."

Clever said Capt. Clark - who went missing with Capt. Appelhans - was an African American. Clever said that he could never prove that the man the Thai witness talked about were Captains Appelhans or Clark, but admitted that the similarities were uncanny.

Clever said, unfortunately, if Captains Appelhans and Clark were in the Sompoi POW camp described by the Thia Officer that they are more than likely long dead.

"That doesn't mean we shouldn't go look for them," Clever said. "What we need is for the government to step in and go to the Laotians to figure this problem out. For 46 years, I was an MIA family member and what hurts the most is that nobody cares."

Capt. Clark is honored on Panel 28E, Row 14 and Capt. Appelhans is honored on Panel 28E, Row 15 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC.