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News Release

Press Release | June 17, 2015

Airman Missing From Vietnam War Accounted For (Morgan)

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

U.S. Air Force Chief Master Sgt. Edwin E. Morgan, 38, of Eagle Spring, N.C., will be buried June 27 in Rockwell, N.C. On March 13, 1966, Morgan was assigned to the 6252nd Combat Support Group, as the loadmaster of an AC-47D gunship aircraft, that departed Da Nang Air Base, Vietnam, on an armed reconnaissance mission along the Vietnam-Laos border. The aircraft failed to return and neither Morgan nor the aircraft was seen again. Morgan was listed missing in action and a military review board later amended his status to presumed dead.

In 1992 and 1996, U.S. teams attempted to locate the crash site in Vietnam and Laos, but were unsuccessful. On Feb. 9, 1997, a joint U.S./Lao People’s Democratic Republic (L.P.D.R.) team located a crash site in Xekong Province, Laos.

On Feb. 8, 2010, another joint U.S./L.P.D.R. team surveyed the crash site, successfully recovering remains and military equipment. The team confirmed that the crash site was consistent with an C-47 or AC-47 aircraft with at least one crewman aboard.

Between Oct. 21, 2010, and May 20, 2014, four joint U.S./L.P.D.R. teams excavated the crash site recovering human remains, military equipment, and aircraft wreckage consistent with an AC-47 aircraft.

In the identification of Morgan, scientists from DPAA used circumstantial evidence and dental comparison, which matched Morgan’s records.

We appreciate the cooperation we receive from the governments and people of Laos and Vietnam in our continuing efforts to achieve the fullest possible accounting for our missing personnel from the Vietnam War. The success in this case and those before it would not be possible without their support and assistance, and we look forward to expanding progress.

Today there are 1,627 American service members that are still unaccounted for from the Vietnam War.

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 or call (703) 699-1420.