The Courage and Sacrifice of Lance Sijan

On the night of November 9, 1967, during his 52nd combat mission, Lance Sijan and his pilot, Lieutenant Colonel John Armstrong, were assigned to bomb Ban Laboy Ford in Laos. As they approached their target, their F-4C (AF Ser. No. 64-0751) was engulfed in flames when a malfunction caused their bombs to detonate prematurely upon release. Sijan managed to eject from the aircraft, and despite likely being rendered unconscious, his parachute brought him down onto a rocky limestone karst ridge near the target. For two days following the crash, no signals were heard from Sijan or Armstrong, until the morning of November 11, when Sijan made radio contact with a Misty FAC F-100F overhead. That day, the U.S. Air Force launched a massive search-and-rescue (SAR) operation, working to neutralize enemy air defenses in the area.

At dusk, SAR forces were able to bring a CH-3 Jolly Green Giant helicopter near Sijan's position. However, despite Sijan’s insistence on crawling to the lowered jungle penetrator and his refusal to let the Para-Jumper (PJ) risk coming down for him, the crew could not see him through the thick jungle. Oddly, the PJ was not deployed to locate Sijan. After hovering for 33 minutes with no further radio contact, the SAR commander, suspecting a trap, ordered the helicopter and all SAR forces to withdraw. Search efforts resumed the next day but were ultimately called off when no further contact was made. Sijan was declared missing in action (MIA).

During his ejection and landing, Sijan suffered a fractured skull, a mangled right hand, and a compound fracture of his left leg. With no food, little water, and no survival kit, he evaded capture for 46 days, moving only by dragging himself over the limestone ridge and later along the jungle floor. Eventually, he reached a road on the Ho Chi Minh Trail, where he was captured by North Vietnamese forces on Christmas Day, 1967. Emaciated and gravely injured, he was imprisoned but managed to incapacitate a guard and briefly escape into the jungle, only to be recaptured hours later.

Sijan was transferred to a holding compound in Vinh, North Vietnam, where he was placed under the care of two other recently captured POWs, Air Force Major Robert R. Craner and Captain Guy Gruters. Despite severe pain from his injuries and enduring brutal torture, Sijan adhered strictly to the Geneva Convention, providing only his name, birth date, rank, and service number. Weakened by exhaustion, malnutrition, and illness, he was soon moved to Hanoi, where Craner and Gruters continued to care for him. However, he contracted pneumonia and passed away in Hỏa Lò Prison, commonly known as the "Hanoi Hilton," on January 22, 1968.

Sijan was posthumously promoted to captain on June 13, 1968. His remains were repatriated on March 13, 1974, and positively identified on April 22, 1974. He was laid to rest with military honors at Arlington Park Cemetery in Milwaukee. On the recommendation of Colonel Craner and with additional testimony from Captain Gruters, Sijan was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously in 1976. His parents, Sylvester and Jane Sijan, accepted the award on his behalf from President Gerald R. Ford on March 4, 1976.