Jean Reid Fallon was living in Dunwoody in 2021 when I wrote about the 25th anniversary of the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta for the Dunwoody Crier newspaper. However, in 1996 Fallon lived in a neighborhood off LaVista Road with a Decatur address. She contacted me after reading the newspaper article, where I asked readers to contact me with their memories of the Atlanta Olympics. Jean Fallon’s story was a complicated one, which began before she met her husband, Patrick Fallon.
Jean Reid attended the 1964 Innsbruck, Austria Olympics while working in Wiesbaden, Germany for the Chief of Staff, U. S. Air Force Europe. At the Olympics she met Uri Gagarin, Russian cosmonaut who was the first man in space. “I couldn’t imagine anything more exciting,” she recalls, “much less opening my home to a group of Communist citizens in Atlanta, 32 years later.”
Jean met her husband, Pat Fallon, in Germany. He had recently been promoted to Colonel in the Air Force. They married in 1965 and lived the next two years at Incirlik Turkish-American Air Base in Adana, Turkey. Pat Fallon had already served in World War II and the Korean War. He was awarded a Purple Heart by Dwight D. Eisenhower in Korea.
Pat and Jean Fallon married in 1965. Photo from Jean Fallon.
Their first daughter, Jeanie, was born in Turkey in 1967. After leaving Turkey, Pat volunteered for duty in Southeast Asia and was sent to Eglin Air Force Base, Florida for survival training. Their second daughter, Cappie, was born at Eglin AFB hospital. Five days after Jean came home from the hospital, Pat left for Nakhon Phanom, Thailand. It was September of 1968.
Jean shared her thoughts as she looked back on the time. “Pat told me Thailand was not a dangerous assignment. However, there was a Secret War in Laos at the time. He was Vice Commander of the 56th Air Commando Wing with 500 aircraft. He chose to fly the A1E Skyraider on his time off. He never asked his men to do anything that he couldn’t do.” Fallon was awarded a purple heart at Nakhon Phanom.
On July 4, 1969, on a mission over the Plain of Jars, Laos, Fallon’s plane was shot down over a Laotian Battalion Headquarters. Although he parachuted safely, Fallon was captured and became a POW/MIA soldier. “I was not allowed at the time to say where he was shot down because of the Secret War in Laos,” recalled Jean Fallon.
“I immediately joined the National League of POW/MIA families. Their mission is to obtain a full accounting of POW/MIA soldiers of the Vietnam and Korean Wars. Today, the effort also includes, WWII, the Cold War and every conflict.”
In July of 1996, New Jersey restaurant owner Bobby Egan asked Jean Fallon to host the North Korean Olympic delegation at her Atlanta home. Egan was actively involved in working with the government to get five known American POWs in Pyongyang, North Korea released. He hoped the gesture would lead to more information about missing American soldiers.
North Korea is represented through its mission to the United Nations in New York, rather than an embassy in Washington, D. C. The North Koreans were restricted to travel within 25 miles of their mission headquarters. Egan’s restaurant was within that radius, and he frequently invited them to dine.
In addition to the Olympic delegation, all the North Korean mission personnel received special permission from President Clinton to travel to Atlanta for the Olympic games.
“Egan told me I would be hosting four or five people, which sounded manageable.” Fallon lived in Breckenridge subdivision off Lavista Road near Northlake Mall.
The North Korean Ambassador was Mr. Kim. “Two men, CEO to the Ambassador Mr. Han and another man from the North Korean Mission, arrived to inspect my house and its location, to see if it was safe and close enough to the Olympic Village at Georgia Tech.” Ambassador Kim, Mr. Han, and the other mission representative spoke English.
When her visitors arrived at her home, no one in the delegation spoke English, according to Jean Fallon.
Fallon was able to recruit help hosting the North Korean delegation from three friends. Dolores Alfond, Chairman of the National Alliance of POW/MIA Korean families, who was also a gourmet cook, a friend from Florida to help with the driving, and a friend from Texas to help with translation.
One day, local South Koreans invited the North Korean mission to visit the Carter Center. A group of school children were also there that day, and an alleged incident of inappropriate conduct occurred between one of the North Korean coaches and a student. The coach was arrested. He later went to court in Atlanta and was sent back to North Korea.
During the Atlanta Olympics, the Goodyear blimp often flew over the Fallon home, including the day of the Centennial Park bombing. Fallon remembers the North Koreans reaction. “They were surprised at the bombing and a bit concerned that they might be implicated.”
Initially, Jean’s daughters were uncertain about their mom volunteering to allow North Koreans to stay at her home. Cappie was living at home and Jean lived in Atlanta and had a two-year old daughter. Once the visitors arrived, Cappie decided to stick around for the adventure and Jean ended up joining in as well. Fallon’s daughter Cappie and Dolores Alfond attended the opening ceremonies with the North Korean delegation.
North Korean Olympic judo athlete Kye Sun-Hui won a gold medal during the Atlanta Olympic games. At 16, she was the youngest judoka ever to win a gold medal. Ambassador Kim invited all the athletes and coaches to Jean Fallon’s home to celebrate Kye Sun-hui’s gold medal and her 17th birthday.
Following the 1996 Olympics, efforts to leverage the hospitality of Jean Fallon and her work to help the POWs resulted in an invitation for Jean and Dolores Alford to visit North Korea. They would be joining the sister of a well-known Korean War POW to talk about release of her brother. However, when a North Korean one-man submarine washed ashore in South Korea the North Koreans were accused of spying and the trip was cancelled. Ultimately, when asked about POWs, the North Koreans responded, “What POWs?” Sometime later, that POW was released through China and returned to the U. S.
On June 12, 2012, a memorial service was held at Arlington National Cemetery for Patrick Fallon, designation of Killed in Action, Body Not Recovered.
For information about missing soldiers or to donate, go to www.pow-miafamilies.org.
Read more about POW Patrick Fallon at www.pownetwork.org/bios/f/f057.htm.