An official website of the United States government
Here's how you know
A .mil website belongs to an official U.S. Department of Defense organization in the United States.
A lock (lock ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .mil website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

News Release

Press Release | June 23, 2023

Airman Accounted For From Vietnam War (Hall, F.)

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that U.S. Air Force Capt. Fredrick M. Hall, 25, of Waynesville, North Carolina, reported missing during the Vietnam War, was accounted for March 23, 2023.

On April 12, 1969, 1st  Lt. Hall was the navigator on a F-4D Phantom II assigned to 390th Tactical Fighter Squadron, 336th Tactical Fighter Wing. Hall, his pilot, Colonel De Soto and another aircraft were returning from a cancelled strike mission near Quang Nam Province, Vietnam when both aircraft ascended into heavy cloud cover. The lead aircraft noticed Hall’s plane was not in sight and immediately began an aerial search without success. Hall was promoted to Captain while in a missing status.

A search and rescue airborne mission were deployed and located Hall’s crash site, there were no signs of the crew; however due to the hostile activity in the area prevented a ground investigation of the site.

In May 1995, a Joint Field Activity team located the crash site in the Giang District, Quang Nam Province and sent another joint team in July 1996 to recover evidence. A number of DPAA investigation and recovery efforts took place between 1998-2020, with a March 2021 recovery mission conducted by the host nation, finding possible osseous remains and material evidence. The remains were sent to the DPAA laboratory for identification.

To identify Hall’s remains, scientists from DPAA used anthropological analysis and material evidence. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), and autosomal DNA (auSTR) analysis.

Hall’s name is recorded on the National Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., and the American Battle Monuments Commission’s 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.

Hall will be buried in Waynesville, North Carolina on Oct. 10, 2023.

For family and funeral information, contact the Air Force Casualty Office at (800)-531-5803.

DPAA is grateful to the government of Vietnam for their partnership in this mission.

For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for 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 https://www.linkedin.com/company/defense-pow-mia-accounting-agency.

Hall’s personnel profile can be viewed at https://dpaa-mil.sites.crmforce.mil/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt0000000BTUcEAO.