NEWS RELEASES from the United States Department of Defense
No. 883-06 IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 08, 2006
Media Contact: (703) 697-5131/697-5132
Public/Industry(703) 428-0711
Airmen Missing in Action From the Vietnam
The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO)
announced today that the remains of a U.S. serviceman, missing in action from
the Vietnam War, have been identified and returned to his family for
burial with full military honors.
Air Force Maj. Burke H. Morgan, U.S. Air Force, of Manitou Springs,
Colo., was buried Sept. 7 beside his wife, Mary, at the U.S. Air Force
Academy.The service there coincided with his U.S. Air Force Academy
graduating class' 45th reunion.
On Aug. 22, 1967, Morgan and a fellow officer took off from Nakhon
Phanom air base, Thailand, in their A-26A Invader on an armed
reconnaissance mission over Laos.The crew had radio contact on their mission
shortly after midnight, but were neither seen nor heard from again.Electronic
and visual searches of their last-reported location in Xiangkhoang
Province, as well as over the planned flight path, did not locate the
missing aircraft.
A joint U.S.-Lao People's Democratic Republic team traveled to the
province in 1993 to interview three informants about various crash
sites.The men recalled the 1967 crash, as well as the burial of the crew
members.They also stated that one of the bodies was disinterred by unknown
persons in 1986.
Four years later, another joint U.S.-Lao team resurveyed the original
crash site, and requested that the Lao government conduct a unilateral
investigation.The Lao government was able to confirm that some remains
were exhumed in the mid-1980s, and promised to continue its
investigation.
Then in 2002, Lao government officials reported that the remains had
been turned over to a Lao official in 1987 or 1988, but that the
official had since died.His driver, however, had possession of those remains
and had been holding them in safekeeping awaiting directions from
authorities.
Scientists of the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command were able to
identify those remains using a variety of forensic methods, including
analysis of skeletal and dental remains.
No. 883-06 IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 08, 2006
Media Contact: (703) 697-5131/697-5132
Public/Industry(703) 428-0711
Airmen Missing in Action From the Vietnam
The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO)
announced today that the remains of a U.S. serviceman, missing in action from
the Vietnam War, have been identified and returned to his family for
burial with full military honors.
Air Force Maj. Burke H. Morgan, U.S. Air Force, of Manitou Springs,
Colo., was buried Sept. 7 beside his wife, Mary, at the U.S. Air Force
Academy.The service there coincided with his U.S. Air Force Academy
graduating class' 45th reunion.
On Aug. 22, 1967, Morgan and a fellow officer took off from Nakhon
Phanom air base, Thailand, in their A-26A Invader on an armed
reconnaissance mission over Laos.The crew had radio contact on their mission
shortly after midnight, but were neither seen nor heard from again.Electronic
and visual searches of their last-reported location in Xiangkhoang
Province, as well as over the planned flight path, did not locate the
missing aircraft.
A joint U.S.-Lao People's Democratic Republic team traveled to the
province in 1993 to interview three informants about various crash
sites.The men recalled the 1967 crash, as well as the burial of the crew
members.They also stated that one of the bodies was disinterred by unknown
persons in 1986.
Four years later, another joint U.S.-Lao team resurveyed the original
crash site, and requested that the Lao government conduct a unilateral
investigation.The Lao government was able to confirm that some remains
were exhumed in the mid-1980s, and promised to continue its
investigation.
Then in 2002, Lao government officials reported that the remains had
been turned over to a Lao official in 1987 or 1988, but that the
official had since died.His driver, however, had possession of those remains
and had been holding them in safekeeping awaiting directions from
authorities.
Scientists of the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command were able to
identify those remains using a variety of forensic methods, including
analysis of skeletal and dental remains.