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KENNETH FRANK BACKUS |
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Name:
Kenneth Frank Backus
Rank/Branch: O2/US Air Force Unit: Date of Birth: 15 August 1938 Home City of Record: Pyrites NY Date of Loss: 22 May 1967 Country of Loss: North Vietnam Loss Coordinates: 213300N 1063000E (XJ553835) Status (in 1973): Missing In Action Category: 2 Acft/Vehicle/Ground: F4C Refno: 0706 Other Personnel In Incident: Elton L. Perrine (missing)
Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 30 June 1990 from one or more of the following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews. Updated by the P.O.W. NETWORK 1998. REMARKS:
SYNOPSIS: The Phantom, used by Air
Force, Marine and Navy air wings, served a multitude of functions including
fighter-bomber and interceptor, photo and electronic surveillance. 1LT Kenneth F. Backus and Capt. Elton L. Perrine were F4 pilots assigned a combat mission over North Vietnam on May 22, 1967. At a point near the city of Nam Dinh, their F4C aircraft was struck by enemy fire and crashed. Because of the probability that both men safely ejected from the crippled aircraft, they were both classified Missing in Action.
NOTE: Defense Department records indicate
that both Backus and Perrine were pilots. Usually, one is coded as the rearseater
and the other is coded as the pilot. Normally, the higher-ranking individual
on the aircraft is the pilot, although this is not always the case. However,
other records list Backus as the first loss from the aircraft, adding evidence
that he was the pilot, not the backseater.
591 American Prisoners of War were released in Operation Homecoming in the spring of 1973, but Backus and Perrine were not.
Thousands of reports have been received by the U.S. Government that indicate
hundreds of Americans are still alive and held captive in Southeast Asia,
yet the government seems unable or unwilling to successfully achieve their
release. Detractors state that proof is in hand, but the will to act does not exist.
Henry Kissinger has said that the problem of unrecoverable Prisoners is an "unfortunate" byproduct of limited political engagements. This does not seem to be consistent with the high value we, as a nation, place on individual human lives. Men like Perrine and Backus, who went to Vietnam because their country asked it of them, are too precious to the future of this nation to write them off as expendable.
During the period they were maintained missing, Elton L. Perrine was promoted to the rank of Colonel and Kenneth F. Backus was promoted to the rank of Captain.
Never to be forgotten
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