Ok,there is one obvious lie in the story. The claim he went down and no one from the US was there to take note of his downing. Fighter/bomber pilots did NOT go out on solo missions. They all had wingmates. They were also pretty much always in radio contact.
I wonder what is going on here. Was he just reported as missing and location unknown because we were not officially bombingin NVN at the time?
Or was he part of an air-support mission to support covert US forces on the ground on that island who also "weren't there" officially?
Whatever the reason,the war has been over for a long time now,and it's time for his family to know.