Texas airmen missing since the Vietnam War have been positively identified and their remains are being returned for burial with full military honors, the Pentagon says.
The fliers are Lt. Col. James H. Ayres, of Pampa, Texas, and Lt. Col. Charles W. Stratton, of Dallas, Texas, both U.S.Air Force, according to the Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office, or DPMO.
Ayres will be buried Aug. 10 in Pampa, and Stratton's burial date is being set by his family.
On Jan. 3, 1971, they crewed an F-4E Phantom II aircraft departing Korat Royal Thai Air Force Base on a nighttime strike mission of enemy targets in Savannakhet Province, Laos.
Shortly after Ayres began a target run, the crew of other aircraft in the flight observed a large explosion. No one witnessed an ejection or heard beeper signals, and communication was lost with the aircraft. Hostile activity in the area prevented search and rescue attempts.
In 2001, a joint U.S./Lao People's Democratic Republic team, led by the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, or JPAC, traveled to Savannakhet Province and interviewed Laotian citizens about their knowledge of aircraft crash sites. One of the men led the team to what was believed to be the Ayres and Stratton crash site.
Later that year, another joint search team began excavating the site. The team recovered human remains and aircrew-related items. Between 2002 and 2005, joint teams visited the site six more times to complete the excavation, recovering more human remains and crew-related items.
Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from JPAC and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory also used mitochondrial DNA in the identification of the remains.
God Have mercy on them and ease some broken hearts at home
Welcome home, brothers, job well done
