One Tough American, Abandoned In Laos.
SSgt. Leo Earl Seymour
RA13789193
POW / MIA Data & Bios supplied by the P.O.W. NETWORK. Skidmore, MO. USA
Rank/Branch: E5/US Army Special Forces
Unit: Command & Control Detachment, MACV-SOG
Date of Birth: 14 may 1942 (Sayre, PA)
Home City of Record: Towanda, PA
Date of Loss: 03 July 1967
Country of Loss: Laos
Loss Coordinates: 144500N 1062300E (YB575326)
Status (in 1973): Missing in Action
Category: 2
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: Ground
Other Personnel in Incident: none missing
SOURCE
Complied by Homecoming II Project 01 September 1990 from one or more of the following: Raw data from: U.S. government agency sources, Published sources interviews.
REMARKS:
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 Operation 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. Leo E. Seymour spent four years in the U.S. Marine Corps before joining the Army. He advanced in rank and training until 1967, when he was assigned to Command and Control Detachment, MACV-SOG.
On July 03, 1967, Sgt. Seymour was a team leader of a joint U.S. and indigenous reconnaissance patrol on a combat mission in Laos. The team was called recon team Texas and was operating about ten miles inside Laos in Attopeu Province.
During the mission, the patrol stopped on small hill for a break. During this break, the patrol observed a number of enemy forces moving down a trail 25 meters from their position. SSGT. Seymour directed an air strike on the enemy location, Sgt. Seymour set up an ambush on a small secondary trail.
While SSGT. Seymour was readying the patrol for the ambush in the Dale Xow River Valley, two sizable enemy columns converged at the trail junction and noticed a psywar propaganda poster which had been tacked on a tree by a member of the Texas patrol. Realizing the poster had not been there before, the enemy began searching and spotted the forward security man of the patrol. The security then opened fire and an intense firefight followed.
The patrol split into several elements and broke contact with the enemy. Upon rallying, the patrol could not locate SSGT. Seymour. No team member could recall having seen SSGT. Seymour after the initial contact, nor did they hear him at anytime. It is not know if he was wounded. If he departed the area, his direction of travel was unknown. On May 28, 1974, a report indicated SGT. Seymours last known location was in the vicinity of coordinates YB575326. Hostile threat in the area of loss precluded any onground inspections of the area while the U.S. maintained a presence in Southeast Asia.
The missions SSGT. Seymour and others were assigned were exceedingly dangerous and of strategic importance. The men who were put into such situations know the chance of their recovery if captured was slim to none. They 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. SSGT. Leo Seymour could be among them. If so,what must he think of us?
Throughout the POW/MIA ordeal, the United States Government has displayed both poor memory and bad judgement.
While a Vietnam War collaborator, Arizona's Senator John McCain, is lauded as a war Hero, a real Hero is forgotten. A man who had a air strike directed on him, so that members of his long range reconnaissance patrol could survive an assault by an enemy of superior numbers, has been left behind in Laos. Our country has never demanded an accounting of him.
I am. Will you help me?
Together - we can make a difference.
There are still LIVE Americans being held against their will in South East Asia. The United States Goverment knows this and permits this travesty to go on. It is up to the American people to demand that this shameful act against are own citizen's to stop! And to Bring our POW/MIA's home! This issue has gone on far to long. You must get involved and put a stop to this madness!!
As an American we asked them to serve, They were prepared to fight, to be wounded, to be captured and even prepared to die, But They were not prepared to be abandoned! So, Let's Bring them Home!
Please Help bring our POW / MIA's home. Won't you take a few minutes of your time and Write or Email or even Fax, a letter to our Public official (who are employed by us) and ask "What is being done to bring "SSgt. Leo Seymour" and the remaining 1,788 (as of Febuary 07,2007) POW/MIA's home?" These links I have placed below will give you direct email access to the Individuals "who can bring them home!"
SSgt. Leo Seymour is more than a name and a number. He is One of Our Own Towanda, Bradford County, PA. Residents. As a tight knit community, We have always stuck behind our own, So Let's stick behind Leo now! Not just in a history book or on a wall" -"Write Our Representives Today!"
Ask them what they are doing to bring SSgt. Leo Seymour or his remains home?
Ask them what they have attempted to do!!
**These are direct email address's and links to their web sites**
They will open in a new window!
More Than A Name On A Wall
Help Bring Him Home!
Click On The Arrow To Get To Any Of My Pages!
Remember To Check Out My Underlined Links Along With My Link Page Which Has Some Very Imformative Sites As Well!
I am trying to locate anyone who may have served with Leo E. Seymour in his second tour of enlistment. This would cover any one who may have served with Leo E. Seymour prior to and or any one having been in the vicinity at the time of his disappearence in Laos . Leo E. Seymour is my uncle. Please email me at Tom Maryott . Your help would greatly be appreciated.
