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16th SOS operator laid to rest after 30 years

  • Published
  • By 2nd Lt. Lauren Johnson
  • 1st SOW Public Affairs
HURLBURT FIELD, Fla. --  For 10 years, Capt. Christopher Joyce has carried the memory of Senior Master Sgt. James Caniford around his wrist.

Captain Joyce, 1st Special Operations Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, asked his friends to get him a POW/MIA bracelet on a long-ago trip to Maxwell-Gunter Air Force Base, Ala. In the years that followed, he memorized the inscription.

"I only take it off to go through the metal detector at the airport," Captain Joyce said. "I don't need to look at it to tell you what it says."

Captain Joyce didn't know anything about the bracelet's namesake - no unit of assignment, no information on how he went missing - only that he was a fellow Airmen who had served and paid the ultimate sacrifice.

More than three decades before him, Sergeant Caniford was an illuminator operator with the 16th Special Operations Squadron.

He was on an armed reconnaissance mission over southern Laos in March 1972, when his AC-130A Spectre gunship was struck by an enemy surface-to-air missile and crashed in the jungle near the Lao-Vietnamese border.

Search and rescue efforts were initiated immediately, but halted less than two days later because of heavy enemy activity. Sergeant Caniford and the 13 other crewmembers were listed Missing in Action.

Excavations starting in the late 1980s uncovered remains, crew equipment and personal effects leading to the positive identification of several crewmembers, but Sergeant Caniford wasn't among them. He was nothing but a memory and a name on a bracelet.

That was until May 27 when the Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office announced the identification of four additional crewmembers. An Arlington Cemetery memorial service was scheduled, and the request came down for the 16th SOS to conduct a flyover.

The squadron jumped at the chance to get involved.

"We pushed up our desire to honor one of our own," said Capt. Christopher Warner, a 16th SOS pilot. "The [1st Special Operations] Group told us they not only wanted us to support but that it was a priority."

Eventually, the information filtered to Captain Joyce, who was home on leave when he received an email revealing, for the first time, the source of his bracelet and the plan for the 16th SOS to participate in Sergeant Caniford's memorial.

"It caught me at first," he said. "I couldn't believe it!"

Captain Joyce wanted to give the bracelet to one of the crewmembers participating in the flyover, but when the 16 SOS heard his story they made other plans.

"We were more than happy to accommodate flying Captain Joyce with us over the ceremony," said Captain Warner, noting that the experience recognizes the dedication of POW/MIA bracelet wearers as well as honoring the Airmen they represent.

The two captains and the rest of the Spectre crew made the trip to Arlington to pay their respects.

It wasn't a typical day at work, but according to Captain Warner, the crew treated it with the same dedication and intensity they would any mission.

"This quickly became a 'no-fail' mission," he said. "It was all about making sure that we were there on time and directly overhead to give our absolute best to honor one of our own."

At the same time, they honored the family.

Sergeant Caniford's father, James Caniford, called the experience "totally unbelievable."

"I was thinking they'd fly jets over," he said. "When that AC-130 flew over I just couldn't believe it. It was a very proud moment for me to think they did this for Jimmy."

"It was rewarding to know the family was down there and we could do this for them," Captain Joyce said.

He plans to send his bracelet to Sergeant Caniford's family. This 10-year chapter of his life has come to an end.