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News Release

Press Release | May 22, 2017

Navy Pilot Killed In Vietnam War Accounted For (Crosby)

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that the remains of a U.S. serviceman, killed in the Vietnam War, have been identified and will be returned to his family for burial with full military honors.



Navy Lt. Cmdr. Frederick P. Crosby, 31, of Lockport, New York, will be buried May 28 in San Diego, California. On June 1, 1965, Crosby was the pilot of an RF-8A aircraft on a bomb damage assessment mission over Thanh Hoa Province, North Vietnam. His aircraft was hit by enemy ground fire while flying at high speed and low altitude over the target area, and crashed. Due to the location of the crash site in hostile territory, the Navy was unable to conduct search operations. The Navy declared Crosby deceased as of June 1, 1965.



After three joint U.S./Socialist Republic of Vietnam (S.R.V.) investigations and witness interviews dating back to 1993, a joint U.S./S.R.V. team excavated a site between October and December 2015, and recovered possible osseous remains and material evidence from an F-8-type aircraft.



In the identification of Crosby, scientists from DPAA and the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA analysis, which matched a sister, as well as anthropological analysis and circumstantial evidence.



The support from the government of Vietnam was vital to the success of this recovery.



Today there are 1,611 American servicemen and civilians that are still unaccounted for from the Vietnam War.



For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for missing Americans who went missing while serving our country, visit the DPAA website at www.dpaa.mil or call (703) 699-1420.