A United States Air Force pilot who went missing during the Vietnam War has been accounted for almost 60 years later.
According to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, https://www.dpaa.mil/News-Stories/Press-Releases/PressReleaseArticleView/Article/3758897/pilot-accounted-for-from-vietnam-war-kerr-j/?ftag=MSF0951a18
Maj. John C.G. Kerr, 35, of Florida was piloting an A-26A Invader attack aircraft on a solo nighttime armed reconnaissance mission over the Plain of Jars, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, on Aug. 22, 1967.
“After Kerr failed to check in via radio and didn’t return from the mission, U.S. forces undertook an extensive electronic and visual search of the estimated area, in which extensive enemy defenses were present, but could not find Kerr or the aircraft,” a DPAA release states.
According to DPAA, a New China News Agency broadcast reported an Aug. 22 shootdown of an American aircraft near Ban Ban and the deaths of its crewmembers. Kerr was declared Killed in Action on June 4, 1971.
No information was provided about how Kerr had been accounted for, but the DPAA typically uses DNA testing and other scientific methods to identify the recoverable remains of fallen soldiers. The DPA’s Vietnam War Identification Project, https://dpaa-mil.experience.crmforce.mil/Projects/s/vwip?ftag=MSF0951a18
an effort to identify missing service members from that war, has been ongoing since 2021.
According to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Maj. John C.G. Kerr, 35, of Florida was piloting an A-26A Invader attack aircraft on a solo nighttime armed reconnaissance mission over the Plain of Jars, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, on Aug. 22, 1967, when he went missing.
“After Kerr failed to check in via radio and didn’t return from the mission, U.S. forces undertook an extensive electronic and visual search of the estimated area, in which extensive enemy defenses were present, but could not find Kerr or the aircraft,” a DPAA release states.
According to DPAA, a New China News Agency broadcast reported an Aug. 22 shootdown of an American aircraft near Ban Ban and the deaths of its crewmembers. Kerr was declared Killed in Action on June 4, 1971.
No information was provided about how Kerr had been accounted for, but the DPAA typically uses DNA testing and other scientific methods to identify the recoverable remains of fallen soldiers. The DPAA’s Vietnam War Identification Project, an effort to identify missing service members from that war, has been ongoing since 2021.
To learn more about Kerr, visit here.
Reach Julia LeDoux at Julia@connectingvets.com.