Name: Robert Hugh Gage
Rank/Branch: Staff Sergeant/US Marine Corps
Unit: 1st Anti-Tank Battalion
1st Marine Division
Casualty Report


Date of Birth: 17 March 1945 (Columbus, OH)
Home of Record: Columbus, OH
Date of Loss: 03 July 1966
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 155650N 1081508E (BT059649)
Click coordinates to view maps
Status in 1973: Missing in Action
Category: 2
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: Ground
Other Personnel In Incident: (none missing)

PERSONAL NOTE:

Robert H. Gage was a childhood school friend of the founder of the USMC Vietnam Tankers Association, Richard "Dick" Carey. Both were from Columbus, Ohio, and attended Weiland Park Elementary and were in the same room, When they moved on to Indianola Junior High they were both assigned to the same home room and share many classes together. They both attended North High School and again shared the same home room until Gage dropped out of high school to enlist in the Marines. 

Gage was adopted and the only child in his family. His father had passed away prior to his enlistment in the Corps and his mother has since passed a number of years ago. Gage was listed as Missing In Action during the time Carey was going through Staging Battalion during July 1966, prior to being assign to West Pac. He was not to discover the status of his childhood friend until his return from South Vietnam in April 1968.

REMARKS:

SYNOPSIS: Then Lance Corporal Robert H. Gage was very proud to be a Marine who volunteered to serve his country in Vietnam. After completing his tour of duty, he was transferred to the Marine base at Da Nang prior to rotating to the United States.

The region south of Da Nang was densely populated and hotly contested because of its rice fields and prime location in northern South Vietnam. It was laced with rivers, canals and waterways of all sizes that flowed in all directions. Many roads of various sizes also ran in different directions connecting the hamlets and towns of the region with the major cities and US military bases. Rice fields were scattered everywhere.

L/Cpl. Gage was in Da Nang only a couple days when he disappeared. At 1300 hours, Robert Gage and another Marine were preparing their belongings for the trip home. The two men left their platoon's position to find a local resident to do their laundry. In their quest, the two Marines entered Thanh Thuy Village, which was located 15 kilometers south-southeast of Da Nang City, Quang Nam Province, South Vietnam.

L/Cpl. Gage was last seen by his friend while engaged in a conversation with two Vietnamese women. When it was discovered he was in fact missing, a search of the area was conducted by two platoons of Americans accompanied by eight trained search dogs. On 3 and 4 July, US personnel detained and questioned local village women in their continuing investigation, but obtained no information about Robert Gage's fate.

On 5 July, members of the search party learned that L/Cpl. Gage had actually entered a Viet Cong (VC) controlled hamlet. The Americans thoroughly examined Thanh Thuy Village, but found no trace of Robert Gage in or around the area. At the time the formal search was terminated, Robert Gage was listed Missing in Action.

L/Cpl. Robert Gage was a well-trained and experienced Marine who found himself in jeopardy while off duty in a "secure" rear area. During the Vietnam War, it was no secret there truly were no safe areas no matter where you were or what you were doing because Viet Cong guerrillas infiltrated into villages and cities alike while blending in with the local population.

In April 1991 the US government released a list of Prisoners of War and Missing in Action who were known to be alive in enemy hands and for whom there is no evidence that he or she died in captivity. This list, commonly referred to today as the USG's "Last Known Alive" list, included Robert Hugh Gage.

If L/Cpl. Gage died as a result of this inadvertent encounter with the enemy, he has a right to have his remains returned to his family, friends and country. However, if he survived, he most certainly was captured and his fate, like that of other Americans who remain unaccounted for in Southeast Asia, could be quite different. Either way, there is no doubt the Vietnamese could return him or his remains any time they had the desire to do so.

Since the end of the Vietnam War well over 21,000 reports of American prisoners, missing and otherwise unaccounted for have been received by our government. Many of these reports document LIVE American Prisoners of War remaining captive throughout Southeast Asia TODAY.

American servicemen in Vietnam were called upon to operate in many dangerous circumstances both on and off duty, and they were prepared to be wounded, killed or captured. It probably ever occurred to them that they could be abandoned by the country they so proudly served thorough search of the hamlet for Corporal Gage, but failed to locate any sign of the missing Marine. Lance Corporal Gage is unaccounted for.


On 4 July 1966, a Marine counterintelligence agent interrogated Miss Nguyen Thi Luong, a farmer and a small store owner, in Hamlet II, Than Thuy (now Dien Ngoc) Village. Miss Luong said that, at approximately 1430 hours (3 July 1966), two Americans approached her home for the purpose of having her do their laundry. As she conducted business with one of them, the other left her home and was seen talking with three Vietnamese girls, one of whom was Miss Hunh Thi Duoc. She said she did not know the identity of the other two Vietnamese girls. Miss Luong said she did not see the men again. Miss Luong added that the hamlet chief was a Viet Cong and that Viet Cong main force troops occupied the hamlet in the evening. She claimed the Viet Cong had killed her husband, a former government youth cadre, in 1964.


A joint team interviewed Mrs. Nguyen Thi Luong, a farmer and a former store owner in May 1992.She recalled that two American soldiers came to her store. One soldier remained in the store. The other American, a skinny Caucasian about 1.8 meters tall, left the store with a Mrs. Hoan and Mrs. Huynh Thi Dan, both of whom were members of the Viet Cong militia. She said that 30 minutes later, she heard a gun shot and the soldier who had stayed in the store abruptly left. A couple of hours later, this soldier returned with others in his unit and searched the area for the missing soldier. Later that evening, the American unit returned and arrested her and her mother, Mrs. Huynh Thi Trung, and another woman, Mrs. Nguyen Thi Nghiep, and took them by helicopter to Danang for questioning. When she returned a couple of weeks later, Mrs. Hoan had already left the area. Mrs. Hoan was reportedly killed in District III, Da Nang City. According to Mrs. Luong, Mrs. Hyunh Thi Dan (possibly should be Hyunh Thi Hong), currently the Chief of the People Control Section, An Khe District, Gia Lai Province, may have information pertaining to the incident. Mrs. Luong reportedly heard from Mrs. Phuong Thi Tai, currently living in Dien Ngoc Village, that the body of the American soldier was buried near an irrigation canal near Mrs. Tai's house. According to Mrs. Luong, Mrs. Le Thi Lan, presently living in Hamlet II, Dien Ngoc Village, witnessed the burial. Mrs. Luong stated that Mrs. Huynh Thi Duoc (previously identified as one the girls Gage was last seen talking with) was helping her with the laundry at the time of the incident.


Mrs. Le Thi Lan indicated she was part of a plan to capture an American soldier. She reported that she and Miss Huynh Thi Duoc talked with one of the soldiers and he followed them to Mrs. Diem's house. When the soldier saw the guerrillas waiting for him within the house, he pulled a pistol and attempted to escape. One of the guerrillas, Mr. Nguyen Huu Duoc, shot and killed the soldier. Mrs. Lan said that several local people temporarily hid the soldier's body in the banks Muong Suong ditch. According to Mrs. Lan, Mr. Huynh Hao allegedly buried the body in the "Dinh Ba" area. She said the three guerrillas who killed the soldier, Mr. Nguyen Huu Duoc, Mr. Nguyen Huu Hi and Mr. Huynh Vinh, were all subsequently killed in the war. The joint team interviewed Mr. Huynh Hao, a farmer during the war. Mr. Hao denied he buried the body of the American soldier. He said that one evening, he met four guerrillas who had just buried the soldier in the middle of a path through a local cemetery on a sand dune.

He identified the guerrillas who allegedly participated in the burial as Mr. Tran Nguu, Mr. Nguyen Bai, Mr. Nguyen Tan, and Mr. Huynh No, all of whom were subsequently killed during the war. Mr. Hoa indicated the area where the four guerrillas allegedly buried the soldier's body was located on a sand dune in an area 10 meters wide by 20 meters long in the vicinity of grid coordinates BT05866531. According to Mr. Hao, remains buried in the cemetery are constantly working their way to the surface and are then reburied. According to Mr. Phan Kiet, the remains of the soldier came to the surface in 1987 and were reburied. Local villagers are allegedly unable to find the remains. In 1993 a joint team interviewed Mrs. Phong Thi Tai, longtime resident of Thanh Thuy (Dien Ngoc) village, stated she witnesses a U.S. service member being led by three women to Mr. Hai's house in Thanh Thuy in July, 1966 or 67. Around 1500 hrs that same day, she heard a gunshot coming from Mr. Hai's house. She heard that the American had been shot by Mr. Nguyen Huu Duoc, Village Militia Commander. Mrs. Tai identified Mrs. Hong, Mrs. Lan and Mrs. Hoan as the three women who escorted the American. Tai explained that the body was temporarily buried in a ditch and later moved to avoid detection by U.S. forces searching the area. Mrs. Tai did not observe the dead body or the burials. She also heard that Mrs. Phung Thi Long knows the burial location. The team also interviewed Mr. Huynh Duc Kha, a local villager, stated that an American was shot to death in Dien Ngoc and transported to Dien Van for burial. He claimed that he participant in transporting the American. Kha also stated that U.S. forces came on the scene and cleared the area encompassing the burial site using a bulldozer. Conclusions: L/CPL. Gage was shot and killed by local Militia.


Joint Teams have interviewed a total of nine witnesses, two of whom have provided firsthand eyewitness testimony concerning the shooting death of CPL. Gage. The remaining witnesses provided strong hearsay information concerning CPL. Gage's incident as well as firsthand observations of circumstances leading up to the time of his death. The testimony from the several witness interviewed during the field investigations is consistent and indicates that Corporal Gage was killed and his body buried in the local cemetery. However, the exact location of Corporal Gage's grave site is still not known. Therefore, further field activity is required to resolve this case.