Maj. Joseph Ygnacio Echanis
United States Air Force
This is the last
known photo of Joseph Echanis taken in
Ubon Thailand shortly before his
disappearance.
Joseph Ygnacio Echanis was born October 6, 1937. Home city of record is Portland, Oregon. He was lost as Missing in Action November 5, 1969 in Laos, serving with the 497th Tactical Fighter Squadron.
Capt. Douglas P. LeFevor was the pilot and Capt. Joseph Y. Echanis the navigator of an F4D aircraft from the 497th Tactical Fighter Squadron. On November 5, 1969, their mission was to act as Forward Air Controller for an operational mission over Laos. While directing a flight over the assigned area, radio contact was lost with the plane. At 4:34 a.m., one of the strike aircraft in the area saw a large ball of fire on the ground. Although no parachutes were observed, the Air Force concluded that the possibility exists that the crew ejected and safely reached the ground.
Throughout the day, an electronic search was conducted, with negative results. The terrain where the plane went down was so rugged that a visual search was not possible. No wreckage was ever found. The last known location was just southwest of Ban Som Peng in Khammouane Province, Laos.
Since the war's end in 1973, thousands of reports have been received by the U.S. Government regarding Americans still in captivity in Southwest Asia. Most of the reports involve Americans in Laos, where nearly 600 Americans went missing, and none released.
Both Echanis and LeFever were promoted to the rank of Major during the period they were maintained Missing in Action.
If you knew Joseph Echanis or have any pictures, stories or
information concerning his
time in the Air Force please contact his
daughter Victoria Echanis.
Thank You!
Check out a related site- LOST IN LAOS
Latest Information from Task Force Omega, Inc. supplied by
Victoria Echanis Wallace, daughter of Major Joseph
Echanis
ECHANIS, JOSEPH
YGNACIO "JOE" Name: Joseph Ygnacio "Joe" Echanis Rank/Branch: Major/US
Air Force Unit: 497th Tactical Fighter Squadron Ubon Airbase, Thailand Date of
Birth: 06 October 1937 (Ontario, OR) Home of Record: Portland, OR Date of Loss:
05 November 1969 Country of Loss: Laos Loss Coordinates: 172800N 1053900E
(WE725422) Staus in 1973: Missing in Action Category: 3
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: F4D "Phantom II" Other Personnel In Incident: Douglas
P. LeFever (missing)
REMARKS: SYNOPSIS: The McDonnell F4 Phantom used
by Air Force, Marine and Navy air wings served a multitude of functions
including fighter/bomber, interceptor, photo/electronic surveillance, and
reconnaissance. The two man aircraft was extremely fast (Mach 2) and had a long
range, 900 - 2300 miles depending on stores and mission type. The F4 was also
extremely maneuverable and handled well at low and high altitudes. It was
selected for a number of state-of-the-art electronics conversions, which
improved radar intercept and computer bombing capabilities enormously. Most
pilots considered it one of the "hottest" planes around.
The Mu Gia
Pass was one of the two major ports of entry from North Vietnam into the
infamous Ho Chi Minh Trail. When North Vietnam began to increase its military
strength in South Vietnam, NVA and Viet Cong troops again intruded on neutral
Laos for sanctuary, as the Viet Minh had done during the war with the French
some years before. This border road was used by the Communists to transport
weapons, supplies and troops from North Vietnam into South Vietnam, and was
frequently no more than a path cut through the jungle covered mountains. US
forces used all assets available to them to stop this flow of men and supplies
from moving south into the war zone.
On 5 November 1969, Capt. Douglas
P. LeFever, pilot; and then Capt. Joseph Y. Echanis, navigator; comprised the
crew of an F4D (tail #66-7748), call sign "Owl 15," conducting a Forward Air
Control (FAC) mission. They were directing multiple flights of Navy attack
aircraft. The mission identifier was Steel Tiger and the target area included
the area of eastern Laos from the Mu Gia Pass west along Route 12.
Their intended flight path was from Ubon Airfield, Thailand to the
airborne tanker, into the target area, return to the tanker, then back to Ubon.
The ordnance carried on this mission included flares and area type munitions
for locating, illuminating and marking targets of opportunity on the route
structures in eastern Laos. The weather conditions in the target area consisted
of 10,000-foot high broken to overcast clouds with their base at 4,000 feet.
Visibility was 5 to 7 miles below the clouds with possible light turbulence due
to strong winds. There was one hole in the clouds where the mission was taking
place.
At 0303 hours, Owl 15 departed Ubon Airbase and proceeded to
rendezvous with the airborne tanker before initiating its mission to direct the
first of four sections of Navy aircraft against a pre-briefed target located
approximately 7 miles southwest of Mu Gia Pass. At approximately 0515 hours,
the last of the Navy's 2-aircraft flights, call sign "Street Car 302 and 304,"
arrived on station. They were told to hold high at 16,000 feet until he
finished working the third pair of aircraft, call sign "Raygun."
After
Raygun flight departed the area, Owl 15 told Lt. Cmdr. Vosseller, the pilot of
Street Car 302; and his wingman, Lt. McClelland, Street Car 304; that he wanted
to work them one at a time. Street Car 304 was again told to hold high. Street
Car 302 proceeded with lights out to about 12,000 feet while Owl 15 dropped two
or three flares then proceeded to mark the target from an altitude of 9,500
feet. Owl 15 also warned Street Car 302 to stay above his altitude. Lt. Cmdr.
Vosseller observed Owl 15 pass underneath him and pass through a shelf of
clouds at approximately 10,000 feet.
At 0536 hours, Lt. Cmdr. Vosseller
was looking to his left waiting for Owl 15's smoke rocket to impact the target
area when he heard a Mayday call just before seeing an explosion directly
beneath him and slightly to his right. Two other aircraft operating nearby also
heard the Mayday call.
Lt. Cmdr. Vosseller immediately radioed his
wingman who also saw the clouds below him light up. Lt. Cmdr. McClelland said,
"Tom, did you see that?" Street Car 302 replied, "affirmative, Mac." Lt. Cmdr.
Vosseller attempted to contact Owl 15, but received no reply from either Capt.
LeFever or Capt. Echanis. Believing that Owl 15 crashed, Street Car 302 radioed
Invert, the ground control center, for search and rescue (SAR) aircraft to
initiate a formal search, then both Street Car aircraft began making runs
underneath the clouds in an effort to identify the location of the crash
site.
During their immediate search effort, Street Car flight found no
wreckage or fires on the ground. They also saw no parachutes and heard no
emergency beepers. In addition, they observed no hostile ground fire before,
during or after the loss of Owl 15. At 0545 to 0550 hours, the first SAR
aircraft to arrive in site was Candlestick 43, a flair ship capable of
illuminating the area for the other aircraft. Candlestick 43 immediately
assumed operational control of the SAR operation allowing Street Car 302 and
304, who where both running low in fuel, to return to the USS Coral
Sea.
Formal SAR operations continued throughout the day. After finding
no trace of Capt. LeFever, Capt. Echanis or their aircraft, these efforts were
terminated at 1800 hours the same day. At the time the search effort was
terminated, Douglas LeFever and Joseph Echanis were immediately listed Missing
in Action.
The area in which Owl 15 disappeared was along Route 12 and
just east of Binh Tram 12, an established way station the communists used for a
variety of purposes including vehicle maintenance, storage and supply, etc. It
was also 3 miles west of where Route 12 intersected Route 23 and 9 miles
southwest of Mu Gia Pass, Khammouane Province, Laos.
Route 12 ran
east-west through a very narrow jungle covered valley on the north edge of a
mountain range. A river ran through the center of the valley that is generally
no wider than 2 miles at any point. Route 23 ran south from Mu Gia Pass through
a series of loosely connected valleys of various sizes located in the mountains
to the east of the Lao/North Vietnamese border.
Douglas LeFever and Joe
Echanis ware among nearly 600 Americans who disappeared in Laos. Many of these
men were known to be alive on the ground. The Lao admitted holding "tens of
tens" of American Prisoners of War, but these men were never negotiated for
either by direct negotiation between our countries or the Paris Peace Accords
since Laos was not a party to that agreement.
If the crew of Owl 15
died in the loss of their Phantom, they have a right to have their remains
returned to their families, friends and country. However, if Capt. LeFever and
Capt. Echanis were able to eject their aircraft, they most certainly could have
been captured and their fate, like that of other Americans who remain
unaccounted for, could be quite different.
Since the end of the Vietnam
War, over 21,000 reports of American Prisoners, missing and otherwise
unaccounted for have been received by our government. Many of these reports
document LIVE American Prisoners of War remaining captive throughout Southeast
Asia TODAY.
Fighter pilots in Vietnam and Laos were called upon to fly
in many dangerous circumstances, and were prepared to be wounded, killed or
captured. It probably never occurred to them that they could be abandoned by
the country they so proudly served.
Joseph Y. Echanis graduated from
the University of Portland in 1959.
Major Joseph Echanis was the featured POW/MIA June 2000 in The Moonduster Chronicles, official newsletter of Operation Just Cause. This is Victoria Echanis Wallace's memories of her father and his loss in that article used with her permission. The page by Marilyn Grote can be found at this link.
I remember my Dad in his flight suit.
He was a career navigator in the Air Force so he was wearing a flight suit a
lot. He was 32 years old when his plane went down in Laos. Just before he went
over to Southeast Asia, we were stationed at George AFB in California while my
Dad trained in the F-4. I remember that there were Israeli pilots training with
my father. Every night when he came home from work (flying jets!), he would
watch the Huntley-Brinkley show. It was the evening news show of the day. One
day, he came home from work all excited because he was going to be on the
Huntley-Brinkley show. Apparently, they were doing a show on the Israeli pilots
training in the US. They wanted footage of an Israeli team running out, jumping
in the jet and taking off. They did not have any Israeli aircrews ready to go,
so my Dad and his aircraft commander ran out jumped in their plane, and took
off on the Huntley-Brinkley show. In their g-suits and helmets, you couldn't
tell they weren't the Israeli pilots. Dad was awfully excited that night! He
also said that the Israelis were the best pilots!
I am the oldest of
four children. I was 9 when Dad left for Southeast Asia. I was almost 10 when
his plane went down. I am the only one of "us kids" who has any really clear
memories of our Dad. We talk about him when we are together. Mom has a lot of
stories she shares with us, as do other members of Dad's family. He was an
athlete and he played piano by ear. He could hear a song and figure it out in
short order on the piano. He had a masters in education, and wanted to retire
to Bend, Oregon where he wanted to teach high school and coach
football.
Dad was the only male child of his parents, and could have
gotten out of a combat assignment because of that. He chose the combat
assignment because he truly believed that it was his duty and that he had to do
whatever he could to make a better world for his family. That's what makes him
our hero. We are so proud of his service to his country. So proud, in fact,
that my brother, Joe, served in the Marine Corps, and my brother, Larry,
graduated from the Air Force Academy to become a B-52 pilot and an instructor
pilot in the Air Force. I am very proud of their service to our
country.
My brother, Joe, remembers when the government car drove into
our driveway and the men in uniforms got out and came to the door to tell us
that Dad was missing. It was a memory that came back to haunt him when he was
in the Corps. He was stationed on the USS Nimitz in the early 80's when we were
having some trouble with Libya. One of the aircraft crashed on the deck of the
ship, and there was a huge fire and men died. Joe was on deck shortly after the
crash with men dying around him. What he remembered was the men in uniforms
coming to our door on the morning of November 5th, 1969. He knew that these
men's families would all receive such a visit. We waited at home after that
accident, for what seemed like an eternity to find out if Joe was dead or
alive. There were A LOT of prayers that week. Fortunately, Joe was fine
physically. Emotionally however, he had been through the equivalent of a combat
experience.
We have all felt the loss of our father in different ways.
The Air Force led us to believe that Dad's plane crashed into a mountain
accidentally and without warning. They were flying at night in bad weather. We
were told that there were two aircraft flying with Dad that witnessed the crash
and that no one could have survived the crash that they saw. We had a memorial
service at Arlington National Cemetery, and went on with our lives. Mom
remarried and we moved on. Still there was a nagging feeling of what I assumed
was loss.
In the early 90's, my brother, Joe, became the Primary Next
of Kin and began looking into Dad's case. They were beginning to excavate crash
sites in Laos that they thought might correlate to my father's case. Joe made
connections with people all over the country and began to suspect that maybe
what the Air Force had been telling us was not accurate. We are all working on
the case together now, and we've found out some new information. Actually, it's
old information that we have found recently. The Search and Rescue logs (SAR
logs) were found. Some people might question the fact that these documents were
lost, but I think it's possible. If you knew how the government keeps their
documents, it is entirely possible. There are documents scattered throughout
the country in many different archives and libraries. As far as I know, there
is no centralized system to keep track of these documents. Back to the SAR
logs. There was a mayday call from my father's plane. This is significant
because that indicates that there was something wrong and that they did not
"accidentally" crash into a mountain because of poor weather and poor
visibility. Also, the so called "eye witnesses" to the crash did not see the
crash because they could not see the aircraft my Dad was in due to a bank of
clouds below them and above Dad's plane. What they saw was a "flash in the
clouds below them". This may have been Dad's plane, but it is possible that
they were able to eject from the aircraft. The eyewitnesses said that they did
not see any ejection, but with a large bank of clouds obstructing their view,
they may not have been able to see an ejection if it occurred.
So, now
we have the possibility that my Father was able to eject and possibly taken
captive. We are looking for records that may shed light on what actually
happened that night. We are currently awaiting the review and declassification
of National Security Agency (NSA) radio intercept files. These files contain
information from enemy radio transmissions that may give us information on the
fate of many men currently listed as Missing in Action.
Last year when
I was in Washington DC for the annual government briefings, I went with another
family member to the National Archives looking for those NSA radio intercept
files. We thought they had already been declassified. We found withdrawal
notices in the place of the files. It looked like they had been reclassified,
when in fact; they had never been declassified in spite of a formal request
that they be reviewed for declassification in 1994. Some of the documents in
this group have been released, but none of them are radio intercepts. There are
several government agencies that continue to hold classified information from
the Vietnam War. The majority of these documents should be declassified in
compliance with the Freedom of Information Act and several presidential orders.
The CIA and the NSA are two agencies that are dragging their feet regarding the
issue of declassification of documents.
Our role in this is to keep the
pressure on these agencies regarding this issue. You can help by making your
representatives and senators aware that you expect them to demand the release
of these documents as soon as possible. This is our responsibility to all the
men whose fate is unknown. We as family members and we as a citizens deserve to
know the full extent of these brave and honorable men's service to our great
country.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you who
are reading this. You care about this issue, and in doing so you honor all the
people who have ever served our country. So please write your representatives
and senators about this issue. Let them know it is important to you that our
POW/MIA's are not forgotten. We need to know what happened to ALL of them.
Thank you and God Bless!
POW/MIA graphic by Ron Fleischer
Some information by POWNET- All Biographical and loss information on POW/MIAs provided by Operation Just Cause have been supplied by Chuck and Mary Schantag of POWNET. Please check with POWNET regularly for updates.