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Defense POW/MIA Accounting AgencyFulfilling Our Nation's Promise

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## News Release

# Air Force Officer MIA From Vietnam War Is Identified (Phillips)

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 on July 3 in Savannah, Ga.

He is Air Force Capt. David J. Phillips, Jr., of Miami Beach, Florida.

On July 3, 1966, Phillips was attacking enemy targets over Kien Giang Province, SouthVietnam, when his F-5 Freedom Fighter was hit by enemy ground fire and crashed. Phillips wasunable to eject from his aircraft before the crash, and radio contact was lost. Heavy enemyground fire precluded a search at the time.

From 1993 to 2000, joint U.S.-Vietnam teams conducted four investigations forinformation on Phillips’ disappearance. Interviews of 10 villagers over seven years led to theprobable location of the crash site. One of the teams found fiberglass pieces that were consistentwith the survival kit from the ejection seat on an F-5 aircraft.

During two excavations in 2003 and 2004, human remains, as well as aircrew-relatedartifacts and personal effects, were recovered by teams from the Joint POW/MIA AccountingCommand (JPAC). Laboratory analysis of the remains by forensic scientists at JPAC led toPhillips’ identification.

Of the 88,000 Americans missing from World War II, the Korean War, the Cold War, theVietnam War, and Desert Storm, 1,833 are from the Vietnam War, with 1,397 of those within thecountry of Vietnam. Another 750 Americans have been accounted for in Southeast Asia since theend of the Vietnam War. Of the Americans identified, 524 are from within Vietnam.

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

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