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Defense POW/MIA Accounting AgencyFulfilling Our Nation's Promise

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## News Release

# Air Force Pilot Missing From Vietnam War Identified (Elzinga)

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. Richard G. Elzinga, 27, of Shedd, Ore., will be buried on July 8 inArlington National Cemetery near Washington D.C. On March 26, 1970, Elzinga and his co-pilotwent missing when their O-1G Birddog aircraft failed to return to base from a familiarizationflight over Laos. Fifteen minutes after the last radio contact, a communication and visual searchshowed no sign of the men or their aircraft. Search and rescue missions continued for two dayswith no results.

Between 1994 and 2009, joint U.S.-Lao People’s Democratic Republic (L.P.D.R.) teamsled by JPAC, analyzed leads, interviewed villagers and surveyed possible crash site locations.During several joint field surveys, teams recovered human remains, aircraft wreckage, and crewrelatedequipment.

Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from theArmed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory also used mitochondrial DNA – which matchedthat of his aunt and cousin-- in the identification of Elzinga’s remains.

For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for missingAmericans, visit the DPMO web site at http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo or call (703) 699-1169.

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