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US identifies 6 airmen killed in Laos during Vietnam War
By Will Dunham, Reuters | November 3, 2004
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WASHINGTON -- Six US airmen killed when their plane went down in Laos in 1966 during the Vietnam War have been identified using genetic tests and other methods, the Pentagon said yesterday.
They were crew members aboard an AC-47 "Spooky" gunship, which was flying a nighttime reconnaissance mission over southern Laos when it went down in flames June 23, 1966, in a heavily wooded area in Khannouan Province, the Pentagon said.
The six Air Force airmen will be buried as a group at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia on Friday with full military honors, said Larry Greer, spokesman for the Pentagon's POW/ MIA office.
They are Colonel Theodore E. Kryszak of Buffalo; Colonel Harding Smith of Los Gatos, Calif.; Lieutenant Colonel Russell Martin of Bloomfield, Iowa; Chief Master Sergeant Harold E. Mullins of Denver; Chief Master Sergeant Luther L. Rose of Howe, Texas; and Chief Master Sergeant Ervin Warren of Philadelphia.
Greer said the cause of the crash remains unknown.
Their remains were recovered by a team of US and Laotian specialists, headed by an American forensic anthropologist, in May and June 1995, Greer said. A local villager in October 1994 had identified an area where personal effects, aircraft wreckage, and a crew member's identification tag were found.
The remains were transported to facilities in Hawaii, where scientists used forensic techniques to identify them, including mitochondrial DNA sequencing, dental remains, and X-rays, Greer said.
"We're very pleased that we're able, even decades later, to help some of the families close this very sad chapter in their lives," Greer said.
The Pentagon said 1,849 Americans remain missing in action from the Vietnam War, and more than 88,000 from all wars.
Copyright 2004 Globe Newspaper Company.
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Vietnam War History
