Heroes Burial for Arkansas Airman Killed in Vietnam War
By: KARK 4 News
Updated: October 19, 2012
A heroes burial service at the famed Arlington National Cemetery outside Washington, D.C. this afternoon honors an Arkansan killed in the Vietnam War.
The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office announced earlier this week that the remains of two servicemen, missing in action from the conflict, have been identified and will be buried, as a group, with full military honors.
Capt. Virgil K. Meroney, III, of Fayetteville and Air Force Col. Wendell Keller of Fargo, N.D., will be buried in a single casket representing their crew.
Meroney was interred individually on June 9th at Fairview Memorial Gardens in Fayetteville.
On March 1, 1969, Meroney and Keller were the crew of an F-4D Phantom II aircraft that crashed while carrying out a nighttime strike mission in Khammouan Province, Laos. Nearby U.S. aircrews reported seeing the aircraft hit by enemy fire. No parachutes were seen after the aircraft was hit. Heavy enemy presence in the area prevented recovery efforts.
From 1994 to 2011, joint U.S.-Lao People's Democratic Republic (L.P.D.R.) teams, led by Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC), conducted several investigations and excavations of the crash site in Khammouan Province, Laos. The teams located human remains, military equipment, a military identification card, and aircraft wreckage of an F-4, including an engine data plate and radio call-sign plate. During the 17 years of investigations, analysts evaluated the material evidence and the accounts of more than 40 eyewitnesses to confirm the information correlated with the crew's loss location.
Scientists from the JPAC used circumstantial evidence and forensic identification tools including dental comparisons, and radiograph comparisons in the identification of Meroney and Keller.
Today, 1,655 Americans remain unaccounted for from the Vietnam War. The U.S. government continues to work closely with the governments of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia to recover Americans lost during the Vietnam War.
Click here for more information on the Defense Department's mission to account for missing Americans.
Photo courtesy link: Fairview Memorial Gardens (Fayetteville)
The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office announced earlier this week that the remains of two servicemen, missing in action from the conflict, have been identified and will be buried, as a group, with full military honors.
Capt. Virgil K. Meroney, III, of Fayetteville and Air Force Col. Wendell Keller of Fargo, N.D., will be buried in a single casket representing their crew.
Meroney was interred individually on June 9th at Fairview Memorial Gardens in Fayetteville.
On March 1, 1969, Meroney and Keller were the crew of an F-4D Phantom II aircraft that crashed while carrying out a nighttime strike mission in Khammouan Province, Laos. Nearby U.S. aircrews reported seeing the aircraft hit by enemy fire. No parachutes were seen after the aircraft was hit. Heavy enemy presence in the area prevented recovery efforts.
From 1994 to 2011, joint U.S.-Lao People's Democratic Republic (L.P.D.R.) teams, led by Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC), conducted several investigations and excavations of the crash site in Khammouan Province, Laos. The teams located human remains, military equipment, a military identification card, and aircraft wreckage of an F-4, including an engine data plate and radio call-sign plate. During the 17 years of investigations, analysts evaluated the material evidence and the accounts of more than 40 eyewitnesses to confirm the information correlated with the crew's loss location.
Scientists from the JPAC used circumstantial evidence and forensic identification tools including dental comparisons, and radiograph comparisons in the identification of Meroney and Keller.
Today, 1,655 Americans remain unaccounted for from the Vietnam War. The U.S. government continues to work closely with the governments of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia to recover Americans lost during the Vietnam War.
Click here for more information on the Defense Department's mission to account for missing Americans.
Photo courtesy link: Fairview Memorial Gardens (Fayetteville)
