lest we forget

LANE, GLEN OLIVER

Rank / Branch:

  • MASTER SERGEANT (POSTHUMOUS) U.S. ARMY SPECIAL FORCES

Date Of Birth:

  • 1931-07-24

Country Of Loss:

  • LAOS

Status:

  • HOSTILE-MISSING TO DEAD

Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground:​

  • GROUND

Other:

  • MARRIED

Unit:

  • MACV-SOG

Date Of Loss:

  • 1968-05-23

Loss Coordinates:

  • 161730N 1070600E (YD258028)

Catagory:

  • BODY N0T RETURNED

Awards & Decorations:

  • SEE BIO

VETERAN HAGI0GRAPHY

  • LANE, GLEN OLIVER, MASTER SERGEANT, U.S. ARMY SPECIAL FORCES, ODESSA, ECTOR, TEXAS

AWARDS AND DECORATIONS

  • COMBAT INFANTRYMAN'S BADGE WITH STAR, SPECIAL FORCES BADGE, SENIOR PARACHUTE WINGS, RANGER TAB, SILVER STAR, BRONZE STAR WITH V DEVICE AND 2 OAK LEAF CLUSTERS (3 AWARDS) PURPLE HEART WITH OAK LEAF CLUSTERS (2 AWARDS), ARMY COMMENDATIONS MEDAL WITH V DEVICE AND 2 OOAK LEAF CLUSTERS (3 AWARDS), GOOD CONDUCT MEDAL WITH 4 LOOPS, NATIONAL DEFENSE SERVICE MEDAL, UNITED NATIION'S EXPEDITION MEDAL (KOREA), VIETNAM SERVICE MEDAL, VIETNAM MILITARY MERIT MEDAL, VIETNAM CIVIL ACTION'S MEDAL, VIETNAM CROSS OF GOLD WITH PALM (MULTIPLE AWARDS) , VIETNAM CAMPAIGN MEDAL

BIOGRAPHY

  • Glen was born in Diboll, Angelina County to Ocavia Pence and George Oliver Lane. The family moved Snyder, Texas in 1938 and Glen attended Snyder schools, He had a younger brother and sister Mary who were twins. When Glen was nine years old his mother died at age 29. He dropped out of school at age 16 and went to work in the oilfields in and around Snyder. His father married a widow, Francis Inez Carpenter. Francis had two girls. They consolidated the children together. In 1950, Glen was living at home at age 16 and was working in the oilfields with his father. In early 1951 the family moved to Odessa and Glen joined the Army. There were additional brothers and sisters born to the union of his father and stepmother. Ronald, Sony, Johnny, Joyce, Murray and Sandra.
  • Sgt. Lane enlisted in the Army during the Korean War from Odessa, TX on July 30, 1951, six days after his 17th birthday, and served in that theatre earning his first Combat Infantryman's Badge. He remained in the Army after the Korean Conflict and attended Ranger training and parachute training. He was selected for Special Forces Training in the early 60's.
  • Glen married Norma Jean Miliam from North Carolina on February 7, 1953, in Lovington, New Mexico and this marriage produced five children, Glenda Juhan, Kim Beard, Theresa Lane, Wayland Lane and Nancy Vivias.
  • MISSING IN ACTION REPORT Name: Glen Oliver Lane Rank/Branch: E7/US Army Special Forces Unit: Command & Control, MACV-SOG, 5th Special Forces Group Date of Birth: 24 July 1931 (Diboll TX) Home City of Record: Odessa TX Date of Loss: 23 May 1968 Country of Loss: Laos Loss Coordinates:161730N 1070600E (YD258028) Status (in 1973): Missing In Action Category: 4 Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: ground Refno: 1191
  • Source: Compiled from one or more of the following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews. Updated by the P.O.W. NETWORK in 1998.
  • Other Personnel In Incident: Robert D. Owen (missing) REMARKS: SYNOPSIS:
  • Glen Lane was the patrol leader of a spike team under orders to MACV-SOG in Vietnam. MACV-SOG, or Military Assistance Command Vietnam Studies and Observation Group, was a joint service unconventional warfare task force engaged in highly classified operations throughout Southeast Asia. The 5th Special Forces channeled personnel into MACV-SOG (though it was not a Special Forces group) through Special Operations Augmentation (SOA), which provided their "cover" while under secret orders to MACV-SOG. These teams performed deep penetration missions of strategic reconnaissance and interdiction that were called, depending on the time frame, "Shining Brass" or "Prairie Fire" missions.
  • Oscar Eight was the code name given to a sector of eastern Laos located in rugged jungle covered mountains approximately 25 miles northwest of the infamous A Shau Valley. The area encompassed the junction of Highway 92, which was a primary north-south artery of the Ho Chi Minh Trail, and Highway 922, which branched off and ran directly east where it crossed into South Vietnam at a strategic point near the northern edge of the A Shau Valley. Oscar Eight was also located at the southeastern end of a large and narrow jungle covered valley that had two primary roads running through it, one on each side of the valley with Highway 92 being the road on the west side. A power line ran parallel to Highway 92 and sometimes crossed it. In addition to the roads and power line, the Hoi An River also flowed through the valley passing the road junction roughly 1 mile west of it.
  • More American aircraft were downed in the vicinity of the junction of Highways 92 and 922 than any other place in Laos. This was because burrowed deep in the hills of Oscar Eight and located just to the east of the road junction was North Vietnamese General Vo Bam's 559th Transportation Group's forward headquarters. It was also the Ho Chi Minh Trail's control center as well as containing the largest NVA storage facility outside of North Vietnam. Oscar Eight was defended by consecutive belts of anti-aircraft artillery (AAA) guns of all sizes that were not only stationed on the ground, but also mounted on platforms in the trees. All of these AAA batteries were expertly camouflaged.
  • On 20 May 1968, then SFC Glen Lane, team leader; and SSgt. Robert D. Owens, assistant team leader; and 4 Nung strikers were assigned to a 6-man reconnaissance spike team (RT), call sign "RT Idaho." Their mission was to infiltrate the denied area of eastern Laos code named Oscar Eight to locate and report on NVA activity in this vital sector. RT Idaho was inserted by helicopter into the rugged mountains just west of the Lao/South Vietnamese border and west of the town of A Loui.
  • FORT BENNING FOR PARACHUTE TRAINING 1960
  • 1960 PHOTO
  • POW/MIA FLAG