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Defense POW/MIA Accounting AgencyFulfilling Our Nation's Promise

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## News Release

# Aircrew Missing From Vietnam War Identified (McElroy, Nash)

The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced todaythat the remains of two U.S. servicemen, missing in action from the Vietnam War, have beenidentified and will be returned to their families for burial with full military honors.

Army Lt. Col. Glenn McElroy, 35, of Sidney, Ill., and Capt. John M. Nash, 28, of Tipton,Ind., will be buried as a group, in a single casket representing the crew, on Nov. 30, in ArlingtonNational Cemetery near Washington, D.C. On March 15, 1966, the men were flying an OV-1AMohawk aircraft that failed to return from a reconnaissance mission over southern Laos inSavannakhet Province. An American forward air controller, operating in the area, reportedwitnessing the OV-1A aircraft crash after encountering heavy enemy anti-aircraft artillery. Hesaw one parachute deploy shortly before the crash but he believed the crewman descended intothe ensuring fireball. Immediate search-and-rescue teams flew over the crash site but were unableto locate any survivors.

Twice in 1988, joint U.S. /Lao People’s Democratic Republic (L.P.R.D.) teams, led by theJoint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC), surveyed the crash site and found OV-1 aircraftwreckage and crew-related equipment—including an identification tag bearing Nash’s name.Records indicate there was only one OV-1 loss within 18 miles of Savannakhet Province.

Between 2005 and 2009, joint U.S./L.P.D.R. teams, interviewed witnesses, investigated,surveyed and excavated the crash site several times. They recovered human remains, moreaircraft wreckage and crew-related equipment.

Scientists from the JPAC used forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence toidentify the crew.

Today more than 1,600 American remain un-accounted for from the Vietnam War. Morethan 900 servicemen have been accounted for from that conflict, and returned to their families forburial with military honors since 1973. The U.S. government continues to work closely with thegovernments of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia to recover all Americans lost in the Vietnam War.

For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for missingAmericans, visit the DPMO web site at www.dtic.mil/dpmo or call (703) 699-1420.

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