Sat, Aug 07, 2004
MIA Identified from
Vietnam War
A serviceman missing in action from the Vietnam War has been
identified and returned to his family for burial with full military
honors. He is Chief Master Sergeant Luther L. Rose of Howe,
Texas.
On June 23, 1966, Rose was serving as a gunner on an AC-47
*Spooky* gunship on a nighttime armed reconnaissance mission over
southern Laos. At about 9:25 p.m., the aircraft radioed "we have a
hot fire," and another radio transmission was heard to order "bail
out." Witnesses reported the aircraft was on fire, then crashed
into a heavily wooded area 30 miles northeast of Tchepone, in
Khannouan Province, Laos. No parachutes from the six-member crew
were observed and no emergency beepers were heard. An aerial search
of the site found no evidence of survivors.
In cooperation with the
Lao government, a joint team of U.S. and Lao specialists traveled
to a suspected crash site in Khammouan Province in October 1994
where a villager took them to an area where personal effects,
aircraft wreckage, crew-related materials and a crew member's
identification tag were found.
In May-June 1995, a joint U.S.-Lao team excavated the site where
they recovered human remains as well as identification media of
other aircrew members. The U.S. recovery team members were from the
Central Identification Laboratory, Hawaii (CILHI). CILHI scientists
applied a wide array of forensic techniques to the recovered
remains, including comparisons of dental charts and x-rays, as well
as the use of mitochondrial DNA sequencing.
The DNA sequencing was done by the Armed Forces DNA
Identification Laboratory, whose results aided the CILHI scientists
in making the final identification of CMSgt Rose and the other
crewmembers. More than 88,000 Americans are missing in action from
all conflicts. Of these, 1,855 are from the Vietnam War.
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