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News Release

Press Release | Oct. 4, 2018

Funeral Announcement for Naval Pilot Killed During Vietnam War (Goodwin, C.)

WASHINGTON  –   The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that the remains of a U.S. serviceman, accounted for from the Vietnam War, are being returned to his family for burial with full military honors.

Navy Reserve Cmdr. Charles B. Goodwin, 25, of Haskell, Texas, accounted for on May 18, 2017, will be buried October 12 in Abilene, Texas. On Sept. 8, 1965, Goodwin was the pilot of an RF-8A aircraft, assigned to Detachment D, VPF-63, CVW-15, when he launched from the USS Coral Sea, scheduled for a combat photo mission over the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (now Socialist Republic of Vietnam.) At the time of the early-morning flight, numerous intense thunderstorms were reported between the USS Coral Sea and the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. Fifteen minutes after launching, Goodwin reported that he had encountered thunderstorms en route to the target area. That was the last transmission heard from him. Search efforts over the target area and adjacent coastal waters were unsuccessful, no emergency radio signals were heard, and no aircraft wreckage was sighted. Goodwin was declared missing in action as of Sept. 8, 1965.

In February 1988, a Vietnamese refugee provided information regarding the location of possible human remain and material evidence, including identification media correlated to Goodwin.

Between April 1993 and December 2016, multiple attempts were made by the Vietnamese Office for Seeking Missing Persons (VNOSMP) and Joint U.S./Socialist Republic of Vietnam (S.R.V.) teams to locate the crash site, but attempts were unsuccessful. In December 2016, a Joint Forensic Review team received possible human remains that had been in the possession of a Vietnamese national. The remains were sent to the DPAA laboratory for analysis.

In the identification of Goodwin, scientists from DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis, which matched his records, as well as circumstantial evidence.

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

Today there are 1,594 American servicemen and civilians that are still unaccounted for from the Vietnam War. Goodwin’s name is recorded on the National Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC, and the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, along with others who are unaccounted-for from the Vietnam War. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.

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, find us on social media at www.facebook.com/dodpaa or call (703) 699-1420/1169.

Goodwin’s personal profile can be viewed at https://dpaa.secure.force.com/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt00000001UjpEAE