Rank/Branch: O4/US Air Force
Unit: 14th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron, Udorn Air Base, Thailand
Date of Birth: 30 January 1935
Home City of Record: Annapolis MD
Date of Loss: 13 November 1970
Country of Loss: North Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 180258N 1054859E (WE864957)
Status (in 1973): Killed/Body Not Recovered
Category: 2
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: RF4C
Other Personnel in Incident: William W. Warner (missing)
REMARKS:
SYNOPSIS: On November 13, 1970, Maj. David I. Wright, pilot, and 1Lt. William W. Bancroft, Jr., navigator, departed their base at Udorn, Thailand on an aerial reconnaissance mission over North Vietnam. During the mission, while just east of Tan Ap in Ha Tinh Province, their RF4C Phantom jet was seen to explode and crash while making a low level pass over the objective target. It was not known at that time whether Wright and Bancroft survived.

On 18 November 1970, the U.S. intelligence community received information which indicated that Wright and Bancroft were dead, and they were listed as Killed in Action/Body Not Recovered. It is felt that enemy forces know their fate.

In 1980, a Vietnamese defector stated in Congressional testimony that Vietnam stockpiles hundreds of sets of American remains. Congress believed him. Since the war ended, some 200 sets of remains said to be those of missing Americans have been returned by the Vietnamese at what many feel are politically advantageous moments. Many of those known to have died as captives have not returned. Scores of men like Wright and Bancroft, on whom it is felt that information is available to the Vietnamese, have not returned.

The defector also testified that Vietnam holds live American prisoners, that he had seen them. Congress says he is lying, although nearly 10,000 reports have been received regarding missing Americans in Southeast Asia. Most authorities believe that there are still Americans held alive. The U.S. and Vietnamese "progress" at a snail's pace, while totally ignoring the tremendous weight of evidence that their priority should be those Americans still alive as captives.

Meanwhile, the families of those missing spend their lives in the most tortured state imaginable - unable to grieve, unable to rejoice. They wait. It's time our men were brought home.