The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced recently that U.S. Marine Corps Capt. Ronald W. Forrester, lost during the Vietnam War, was accounted for Dec. 4, 2023.
Captain Forrester entered the U.S. Marine Corps from Texas and was a member of the Marine All-Weather Attack Squadron 533, Marine Air Group 15, 1st Marine Air Wing.
On December 27, 1972, he was the bombardier/navigator aboard an A-6A Intruder (bureau number 155666, call sign "Tiny 05") which took off from Royal Thai Air Base Nam Phong, Khon Kaen Province, Thailand, carrying two crew members on a night combat mission over North Vietnam.
The Intruder was last heard from when an airborne controller received a radio transmission indicating "Tiny 05" was beginning its entry into the target area. No subsequent radio contact was made, and an aerial search conducted over the area was unsuccessful in locating the aircraft or crew.
In September 1978, the Marine Corps changed Capt Forrester's status from Missing in Action to Killed in Action. Investigations following the incident continued for decades, with investigators eventually discovering remains and material evidence believed to be associated with Capt Forrester and the other aviator in the area of the crash site.
Captain Forrester is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. His name is also inscribed along with all his fallen comrades on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, DC.
