WASHINGTON –
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that U.S. Naval Reserve Cmdr. Paul C. Charvet, 26, of Grandview, Washington, killed during the Vietnam War, was accounted for March 1, 2021.
On March 21, 1967, Charvet was the pilot of an A-1H Skyraider airplane assigned to Attack Squadron 215 aboard the USS Bon Homme Richard. During a mission near Thanh Hoa Province, Vietnam, his plane disappeared in an area of low cloud cover and fog a kilometer northeast of Hon Me Island. His remains were not recovered after a search of the area. On March 22, Radio Hanoi Broadcast reported an American aircraft was shot down the day before off the coast of Thanh Hoa Province. Charvet’s plane was the only U.S. aircraft loss in that area March 21. Charvet was considered missing in action until Dec. 2, 1977 when his status was changed to “Presumed Killed in Action.”
On Sept. 24, 2020, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam turned over presumed human remains and material evidence that a Vietnamese team had unilaterally recovered to the U.S. Additional material evidence was turned over Oct. 15, 2020. The remains and evidence were turned over to DPAA’s laboratory at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii.
To identify Charvet’s remains, scientists from DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis, as well as material evidence. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and autosomal DNA (auSTR) analysis.
Charvet’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.
Charvet’s funeral date and location has not yet been decided.
For family and funeral information, contact the Navy Casualty Office at (800) 443-9298.
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.
Charvet’s personnel profile can be viewed at https://dpaa-mil.sites.crmforce.mil/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt0000000KZlbEAG.