Ronald Leslie Bond

Captain Ronald Leslie Bond was born in Camden, New Jersey on December 14, 1947. He grew up in Haddonfield, New Jersey. At the age of 12, Ron was on the Haddonfield Little League team that went to the New Jersey finals. In that same year he was Middle Atlantic AAU, 12 and under Diving Champion and a tri-county swimming and diving champion. In his high school years at Haddonfield Memorial High School, he was wrestling champion in his weight class. When Ron graduated from high school in 1965, he was accepted at the University of Delaware, but was also granted an appointment to the Air Force Academy, which he accepted.

His first assignment after graduating from the Academy in 1969 was navigator school, then training to be “Guy in Back” in the F4 fighter bomber, then an unexpected (and unwanted) assignment to South Korea. Ron did everything he could think of to get a Vietnam assignment, and the orders to go to Vietnam came while he was home just prior to leaving for Korea. With his heavy clothes on their way to Korea and his lighter clothes shipped home to Haddonfield, he left for Da Nang, South Vietnam, arriving there February 6, 1971.

Ron was home again in July, 1971. He was on R & R, but had come home to be fitted with contact lenses so that he could become a pilot. Shortly after his return to Da Nang, Ron began flying Forward Air Controller reconnaissance missions. He was attached to the 390th Tactical Fighter Squadron.

On September 30, 1971, Capt. Michael L. Donovan, pilot, and then 1st Lt. Ronald L. Bond, navigator, comprised the crew of an F4E, call sign “Stormy 3,” on a daylight visual reconnaissance mission in southern Steel Tiger East — that portion of Laos which bordered South Vietnam. The flight departed Da Nang Airbase, South Vietnam at 0643 hours with a planned flight path that took them from Da Nang to their target area, then return to Da Nang.

Operation Steel Tiger was a limited interdiction effort against North Vietnamese and Pathet Lao troop/supply movements within the panhandle of southern Laos. This route, known as the Ho Chi Minh Trail, consisted of numerous winding roads and pathways through jungle covered mountains and valleys which served for many years as an infiltration route from North Vietnam, through neutral Laos, then into selected areas of South Vietnam under Communist control.

At 1130 hours, after refueling twice from a KC135 airborne tanker, Capt. Donovan called another Forward Air Controller (FAC) in the area reporting they were proceeding from Sectors 8 and 9 to their final assigned area, Sector 5. This area was approximately 2 kilometers east of the town of Muang Nong, Savannahket Province, Laos.

When it was determined that Stormy 3 was overdue, visual and electronic search and rescue (SAR) operations were immediately initiated. On October 6, a SAR aircraft found the scattered wreckage of what was believed to be an F4 toward the southern end of a long, narrow jungle covered valley located between mountain ranges approximately 1,500 meters northwest of Ban Pepten, Saravane Province, Laos. Because of intense enemy activity in the area, no ground team could be inserted to search for the crew or to confirm the wreckage. Both men were immediately listed Missing in Action.

Bond and Donovan are two of the nearly 600 men missing in action over Laos. The poorly-negotiated Paris Peace Agreement ending American involvement in Southeast Asia did not address the prisoners of war and missing held in Laos, and no subsequent negotiations were ever held to secure their freedom.

Captain Bond’s status remained “missing in action” until February 6, 1979, when his status was administratively changed to “killed in action.” Since his remains have yet to be recovered and returned, he is listed by the Department of Defense as unaccounted for in Southeast Asia. He is memorialized at the Courts of the Missing, Honolulu National Cemetery, Honolulu, Hawaii.

For accurate information about the MIA issue, see MIAFacts.org.

Ronald Leslie Bond is honored on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on Panel 2W, Line 31.

Yearly Visits

Every year I visit the wall usually on your casualty date. Since the wall’s dedication I have written you a yearly update on my life, with the hopes that someday you will come home and read them, Ronnie. About 8 years ago your mom gave me another bracelet with your name on it, this one has your picture. I wear them both. Every time I go home I visit the town memorial and place some flowers there for you. Ronnie, you are deeply missed. I hope someday you can come home.

— Sharon Wieber, from same town — same time, Lake Park, Georgia — May 18, 2000

I Wore His POW/MIA Bracelet in the 70s

I am overwhelmed with emotion — I just didn’t want this hero’s comment section to be empty. I wore his POW/MIA bracelet in the 70s. I feel somehow tied to him, and I wanted anybody who reads this to know that this hero is not forgotten by the young girl who prayed for this young man and still thinks about him and his family. My heart will always hold a place for him. I would love to make contact with anyone who knew Capt. Ronald L. Bond. (My bracelet says Lt. Ronald L. Bond — 9/30/71.) I don’t know what else to say — so I’ll leave with the song “(You are the) Wind Beneath My Wings.” Ronald, did you ever know that you’re my hero?

— Denise Bryant — August 18, 1999

My Adopted MIA

Capt. Ronald L. Bond, my name is Ken Hampton. I’m a 2005 Junior at Sam Houston High School in Arlington, TX. As part of a class assignment on Vietnam MIAs, I learned your story and shared it with my classmates. I learned of your sacrifice and will remember you.

— Ken Hampton, Arlington, TX — May 11, 2005

Not Forgotten

I bought Ronald Bond’s bracelet at the Viet Nam Veteran’s Memorial in 1994. It was a pleasant surprise to see that he was from my home state of NJ. I have worn his bracelet every day since 1994 and visited him at the VVM and at the Air Force Academy where his name is listed among those graduates killed and missing at the Air Force Academy Chapel. Thanks to the wonder of the internet, I have also contacted his parents to remind them that there are millions of us who have not forgotten our Viet Nam veterans and thousands of us who have not forgotten Ronald Bond in particular.

— Carl M. Ostergaard, Jr., Astoria, New York — June 1, 2005