Name: James Daniel Stride,
Jr.
Rank/E6
Branch: US Army Special Forces
Unit: Command & Control North, MACV-SOG
Date of Birth: 27 February 1933
Home City of Record: Denison TX
Date of Loss: 05 October 1968
Country of Loss: Laos Loss Coordinates:
155935N 1072346E (YC564695)
Status (in 1973): Killed in Action/Body
Not Recovered
Category: 2 Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground:
Ground
Other Personnel in Incident: (none
missing)
Source: Compiled by Homecoming II
Project 01 September 1990 from one or
more of the following: raw data
from U.S. Government agency sources,
correspondence with POW/MIA families,
published sources and interviews.
SYNOPSIS: MACV-SOG (Military Assistance
Command, Vietnam Studies
and Observation Group) was a joint-service
unconventional warfare task force
engaged in highly classified operations
throughout Southeast Asia. The 5th
Special Forces channeled personnel
into MACV-SOG (although it was not a
Special Forces group) through Special
Operations Augmentation (SOA), which
provided their "cover" while under
secret orders to MACV-SOG. The teams
performed deep penetration missions
of strategic reconnaissance and interdiction
into Laos and Cambodia which were
called, depending on the time frame,
"Shining Brass" or "Prairie Fire"
missions.
SSGT James D. Stride was assigned
to Command and Control North,
MACV-SOG in Vietnam. On October
5, 1968, Stride was the team leader,
SP4 Steven D. Engelke, assistant
platoon leader, SP4 Lynn M. Black, Jr.,
radio operator on a reconnaissance
patrol in Saravane Province, Laos near
the border of South Vietnam, and
just about 10 miles south of A Shau. The
platoon, in addition to its Special
Forces members, consisted of an unspecified
number of indigenous personnel.
Upon the team's insertion into Laos,
the team made contact with enemy forces.
SSGT Stride ordered the team off
the landing zone in order to break contact and
to continue the mission. A hundred
yards from the LZ, the team was ambushed.
In the initial burst of fire, Stride
was mortally wounded. The team recovered the
body and formed a perimeter. Two
hours later, the team was forced to exfiltrate,
but Stride's body was left behind.
Because the area was hostile, it was not possible
to return for Stride.
For every insertion like Stride's
that was detected and stopped, dozens of other
commando teams safely slipped past
enemy lines to strike a wide range of targets
and collect vital information.
The number of MACV-SOG missions conducted with
Special Forces teams into Laos
and Cambodia was 452 in 1969. It was the most
sustained American campaign of
raiding, sabotage and intelligence gathering waged
on foreign soil in U.S. military
history. MACV-SOG's teams earned a global
reputation as among the most combat-effective,
forces ever raised.
The missions Stride and others were
assigned were exceedingly dangerous. The men who were put into such situations
knew the chance of their recovery if captured was
slim to none. They quite naturally
assumed that their freedom would come by the end
of the war. For 591 Americans,
freedom did come at the end of the war. For another
2500, however, freedom has never
come.
Since the war ended, nearly 10,000
reports relating to missing Americans in Southeast Asia have been received
by the U.S., convincing many authorities that hundreds remain alive in
captivity. What must they think of us?
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