This picture was taken in 1972 just before Pat left for his second SEA tour.
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To contact his family, click here.
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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
LONNIE PAT BOGARD
USAF 1966-1972
MISSING IN ACTION IN SOUTHEAST ASIA
MAY 12, 1972
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Pat, as his family and friends called him, was an Air Force pilot of the F4-D Phantom fighter/bomber jet. He was born in Stillwater, Oklahoma, on May 11, 1942, while his father served in the South Pacific arena during WW II. He had just turned thirty years old when he became missing during a night mission over Laos. Pat did most of his growing up in New Orleans, Louisiana, in a suburb called Metairie. Since he became missing most of his primary family members have become deceased. They passed away never having an answer to the questions, “What happened? Where is he?” Pat’s one sister still lives in Atlanta, GA. Pat has no nieces or nephews.
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Pat graduated from Oklahoma State University in 1965, with a degree in air science and a commission in the United States Air Force through the ROTC program. During his senior year at OSU he served as vice wing commander of the AFROTC. He entered pilot training at Reese AFB in Lubbock, TX, and was awarded his wings in 1966. After training in the F4-C Phantom, Pat served his first tour of duty in Southeast Asia from 1967 to 1968. He was just seven weeks from finishing his second tour when he became missing in the F4-D Phantom. His second tour began in June of 1971 and would have been completed on the last day of June 19972. Pat became missing on May 12, 1972, the day after his thirtieth birthday.
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Pat was a very tall man, almost too tall to be a fighter pilot, standing 6’4”.  He weighed 185 pounds had had reddish-blond hair and blue eyes. He was a very happy man----always laughing or smiling. He had a great sense of humor and was quite a tease. Needless to say that he loved people and the more the merrier.
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Pat enjoyed hunting, fishing, camping, and shooting skeet. He had dappled in bow hunting, scuba diving and motorcycling. He played the guitar and liked to make up songs about places that had been or things that had seen. His tours in SEA give him a treasure trove of lyrics. He liked all kinds of music but country western was definitely his favorite.
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Pat was married to his college sweet heart in 1964, and never had children. He liked youngsters of all ages and had done some youth group work such as being an instructor for the Junior Rifle Club on various AF bases. He was also very fond of animals and even liked cats. He most treasured pet was a golden retriever named Rebel and called Reb. The dog went wherever Pat went including the stag bar at the Officers’ Club.
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A presumptive finding of death was issued on Pat by the DOD in June of 1978, based on the fact that it couldn’t be shown that he was alive. The government continues to use some search and recovery personnel in Southeast Asia to repatriate the remains of lost individuals. In the mid 1990s, the family was notified that a crash site in Laos would be excavated and the air craft was believed to be one of possible three lost in that area. It turned out to be a fourth aircraft that was not known to have been in that area. This gave two families an unexpected closure. To this date there has been no further information that would help solve his disappearance.
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Pat was a great son, brother, husband, and friend. His family and country meant more to him than can be expressed. He was extremely patriotic and possessed a very gentle heart.
He was a very good man and had hoped to make the Air Force a career. The last wish for Pat that his remains could be returned and interned in the soil of the country that he loved so strongly.
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MAJ - Air Force - Regular
Rank/Branch: O3/US Air Force
Unit: 435th Tactical Fighter Squadron, Ubon AF TH
36 year old Single, Caucasian, Male
Born on May 11, 1942
From METAIRIE, LOUISIANA
His tour of duty began on May 12, 1972
Casualty was on Jul 26, 1978
Date of Loss: 12 May 1972
 Country of Loss: Laos
Loss Coordinates: 171200N 1960900E (XE222018)
Hostile, died while missing
 FIXED WING - PILOT
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: F4D
AIR LOSS, CRASH ON LAND
Status (in 1973): Missing in Action
 Body was not recovered
Religion
BAPTIST
Refno: 1856
Panel 01W - - Line 24

Other Personnel in Incident: William H. Ostermeyer (missing)
Category: 4
 

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. 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. The F4 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.
 

Capt. Lonnie P. Bogard, had celebrated his birthday the day before he was
assigned a night low-level reconnaissance mission along the Ho Chi Minh
trail on May 12, 1972. Bogard was the pilot, and 1Lt. William H. Ostermeyer
the electronics officer comprising the crew of an F4D Phantom. The mission
went according to plan until after a scheduled mid-air refueling, after
which radio contact was lost with the aircraft. At last contact, Bogard and
Ostermeyer were near the Ban Karai Pass in Savannakhet Province, Laos.
 

The Ban Karai Pass was one of several passageways through the mountainous
border of Vietnam and Laos. American aircraft flying from Thailand to
missions over North Vietnam flew through them regularly, and many aircraft
were lost. On the Laos side of the border coursed the "Ho Chi Minh Trail", a
road heavily traveled by North Vietnamese troops moving materiel and
personnel to their destinations through the relative safety of neutral Laos.
The return ratio of men lost in and around the passes is far lower than that
of those men lost in more populous areas, even though both were shot down by
the same enemy and the same weapons. This is partly due to the extremely
rugged terrain and resulting difficulty in recovery.
 

The U.S. Air Force placed Bogard and Ostermeyer in the category of Missing
in Action. The Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) further refined that
category to include the likelihood of enemy knowledge, classifying Bogard
and Ostermeyer as Category 4. Category 4 includes those individuals on whom
no intelligence exists to support the belief that the enemy knew details of
the loss, or individuals whose loss time and location are unknown.
 

The families of Bogard and Ostermeyer understood that the two could have
been captured by either Pathet Lao forces or North Vietnamese, and waited
for the war to end.
 
 

When peace agreements were signed, Secretary of State Henry Kissinger
informed the families of the men prisoner and missing that their men would
soon come home. When asked specifically if the agreements included all
countries (Vietnam, Cambodia, China and Laos), Kissinger replied, "What do
you think took us so long."
 
 

When 591 American prisoners were released in the spring of 1973, it became
evident that Kissinger had lied to the families. No prisoners held by the
Chinese, Lao or Cambodians were released, even though the Pathet Lao had
stated on a number of occasions that they held "tens of tens" of Americans.
Kissinger had not negotiated for these men.
 

In Laos alone, nearly 600 Americans are Prisoner of War or Missing in
Action. Since 1975, nearly 10,000 reports relating to Americans still
missing in Southeast Asia, convincing many authorities that hundreds of
Americans are still held in captivity. Lonnie Bogard and William Ostermeyer
could be among them. It's time we brought our men home.
 

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