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## News Release

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

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 Major Thomas E. Reitmann, 34, of Red Wing, Minn., will be buried on Sept. 8in Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C. In 1965, Reitmann was assigned to the 334thTactical Fighter Squadron deployed out of Seymour-Johnson Air Force Base, N.C., to Takhli AirBase, Thailand. On Dec 1, 1965, he was flying a strike mission as the number three aircraft in aflight of four F-105D Thunderchiefs as part of Operation Rolling Thunder. His target was arailroad bridge located about 45 nautical miles northeast of Hanoi. As the aircrew approached thetarget area, they encountered extremely heavy and accurate anti-aircraft artillery (AAA). Whileattempting to acquire his target and release his ordnance, Reitmann received a direct AAA hit andcrashed in Lang Son Province, North Vietnam. Other pilots in the flight observed no parachute,and no signals or emergency beepers were heard. Due to the intense enemy fire in the area asearch-and-rescue team was not able to survey the site and a two-day electronic search found nosign of the aircraft or Reitmann.

In 1988, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (S.R.V.) repatriated remains to the UnitedStates believed to be those of Reitmann. The remains were later identified as those of anotherAmerican pilot who went missing in the area on the same day as Reitmann.

Between 1991 and 2009, joint U.S.-S.R.V. teams, led by the Joint POW/MIA AccountingCommand (JPAC), analyzed numerous leads, interviewed villagers, and attempted to locate theaircraft. Although no evidence of the crash site was found, in 2009 and 2011 a local farmerturned over remains and a metal button he claimed to have found in his corn field.

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 brother -- in the identification of Reitmann’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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