Son's quest for dad lost in Laos reaches a second end

ST. LOUIS -- Paul Clever's saga began as a boy in 1969, when his father's Air Force plane disappeared during an intelligence-gathering mission over Laos, and recently ended at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery.

Clever, now 52, first came to the cemetery decades ago for the funeral of his father and nine other crew members of the EC-47. Commingled remains were found in the jungle four months after the crash and flown home.

The bone fragments were put in two caskets and buried in a group grave in Missouri, a central location for all the families involved.

All the occupants were presumed dead and accounted for, according to the government. But through years of his intelligence missions -- into military archives -- Clever unearthed enough information to question the government's case.

Still, he didn't think anything was being done.

"It left me one position," Clever said, "quit or take ownership of it."

In 2012, he and his wife tromped through the Laos jungle on their own. Coordinates from a previous military search helped them get close to the site, where the couple found what looked like small bone fragments and pieces of the plane.

Four days after they got back home to Olive Branch, Mississippi, Clever said the U.S. government told him there were plans to disinter the group grave at Jefferson Barracks. Military DNA testing of both sets of remains eventually helped identify his father, Tech Sgt. Louis J. Clever, who recently was buried again with military honors.

Clever said he doesn't think the government is doing enough to find service members it lost.

"I do feel like the low-hanging fruit has been missed," he said.

According to the Hawaii-based Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, there are more than 80,000 people not accounted for since World War II. There are 1,627 cases left from the Vietnam War, including 36 Missourians.

While impressed with Clever's drive, Allen Cronin, chief of past conflicts for Air Force Mortuary Affairs, in Dover, Delaware, said there are teams in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.

"We, the government, are looking for missing," Cronin said. "Every day we do, in one form or another. We are not sitting back, waiting."

In April, the remains of Army Sgt. Rodney L. Griffin were flown back to mid-Missouri. His Huey helicopter was shot down in 1970 in Cambodia.

Cronin, who attended the funeral and reception events over two days, said the Clever case fell into a gray area for many years because, in the government's eyes, the crew was presumed dead, accounted for and buried.

"At that time, they didn't have DNA testing," he said.

He said it was a coincidence the opening of the group grave came shortly after Clever and his wife returned with their sample of remains from the site. But he said Clever helped push the case forward as an involved family member with a persistent voice.

"As people do the research and ask questions, people answer those questions," he said.

Clever had an advantage. He worked several years as a manager in Southeast Asia for Siemens, a multinational company.

His wife, originally from Thailand, speaks Lao. They did their expedition as tourists, not a government body that needs to jump through red tape for permission to excavate.

Still, James Mueller, the former national commander-in-chief of the VFW, was impressed and never had heard of a similar story.

"It's unbelievable for a family member to go back and spend his own money," said Mueller, of O'Fallon, Missouri.

He understands the draw, though countries like Australia and Great Britain don't make as much of an effort to reclaim remains.

"It's very important for the families," said Mueller.

Not including years of research, Clever estimated it cost about $20,000 to help find his father and two others at the crash site.

"It cured myself of insanity," he said. "What I carried all these years is no longer inside me. I am a happier person."

Patriot Guard motorcycle riders who escorted Clever and his family from the Memphis, Tennessee, area gathered with others at a recent reception at the VFW in Arnold, Missouri. They were greeted with one of the largest black-and-white POW/MIA flags around and other supporters who were amazed by the story.

"I just had to be here," said Trip Lapham, 66, who came from Grove, Oklahoma.

He said he used to fly the same missions over Laos and even had the same job as Clever's father. He said the job was to pick up enemy voices or electronic signals along the Ho Chi Minh Trail, a major supply route for the Viet Cong.

Lapham said his EC-47 flew slow and low, about 9,000 feet, and if something was detected, it would "end up on the B-52 target list the next day."

Though the military initially said there was an engine fire, Clever believes his father's plane was shot down, because it disappeared abruptly.

By the time he and his wife arrived at the crash site, metal scavengers had hauled off most of the plane. Only small pieces remained.

He said his mother never remarried and held out hope for 30 years his father would return from the Vietnam War. She died in 2005 and is buried at Jefferson Barracks. Clever's father is buried with her.

While his family story is complete, a piece of it remains unclear. Three remaining occupants from the ill-fated mission have not been identified with DNA testing.

Clever said he will go back to Laos to do a more thorough dig of the crash site if the government doesn't.