Fri, Nov 30, 2007
Pilots Missing From The Vietnam War ID'd
The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO)
have announced that the remains of two U.S. servicemen, missing
from the Vietnam War, have been identified.
They are Maj. Robert F. Woods, of Salt Lake City, Utah, and
Capt. Johnnie C. Cornelius, of Maricopa County, AZ, both US Air
Force. Cornelius was buried with full military honors on Nov. 10 in
Moore, Texas, and Woods' burial is being set by his family.
On June 26, 1968, Woods and Cornelius were flying a visual
reconnaissance mission over Quang Binh Province, Vietnam, when
their O-2A Skymaster aircraft crashed in a remote mountainous area.
The crew of another aircraft in the flight saw no parachutes and
reported hearing no emergency beeper signals. Immediate search
efforts were unsuccessful.
Between 1988 and 1993, joint U.S./Socialist Republic of Vietnam
(S.R.V.) teams, led by the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC),
investigated the incident and surveyed the crash site. The team
interviewed several Vietnamese citizens, two of whom turned over
human remains and the pilots' identification tags.
Between 1994 and 1997, joint teams re-surveyed the site two times
to find a landing location to support a helicopter and recovery
team. During their survey, one team found additional wreckage and
life-support material. Between 2000 and 2004, joint teams excavated
the site four times. They recovered additional human remains,
personal effects and life support materials.
In 2006, a joint team interviewed two former North Vietnamese
soldiers who recalled the crash. The soldiers said that Woods and
Cornelius were buried near the crash site. In 2007, another joint
team excavated the burial site identified by the Vietnamese
soldiers. The team recovered additional human remains. Among other
forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence,
scientists from JPAC and the Armed Forces DNA Identification
Laboratory also used mitochondrial DNA and dental comparisons in
the identification of the remains.
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