ARLINGTON, Va. –
While attending the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency’s Vietnam War Annual Government Briefing, June 25-26, 2026, two Gold Star family members had the chance encounter of a lifetime.
On April 7, 1972, a brother and a daughter’s lives would change forever when an OV-10A Bronco aircraft with two crew members conducted a naval gunfire spotting mission in the vicinity of Quang Tri, South Vietnam, was struck by an enemy surface-to-air missile north of Dong Ha and crashed.
Aboard that aircraft were U.S. Marine Corps Capt. Larry Potts, a naval artillery observer, and U.S. Air Force Capt. Bruce Walker, the pilot, both of whom have yet to be recovered.
More than 50 years later, at the Vietnam War Annual Government briefing, Capt. Walker’s daughter, Lauren Walker, shared her father’s story with approximately 200 other Gold Star family members gathered there.
“He was likely killed or captured that day,” said Lauren Walker, describing her father’s brief contact via radio before his loss. “But we will never know. But DPAA has investigated his case over 20 times and is continuing to do so. We’re all getting older, and I want to make sure that our dads, our brothers, and our children are never forgotten.”
Such a story can be hard to tell, but what was not expected was that Jeff Williams, Capt. Potts’ brother, was there, listening to the same story he had been prepared to tell that day. As he stood up and said who his brother was, before it could be realized, Lauren Walker moved across the room and the two embraced in an emotional hug, an embrace where they wordlessly shared and understood a deep emotional connection with a shock that they were both there at the same time for the very same reason.
“I was so glad you spoke,” said Williams, addressing Walker. “My brother was in the same plane with Bruce Walker. He’s also a Captain in the Marines Corps. And Larry F. Potts was considered to be the artillery observer. They said he parachuted out first, and then [Capt.] Walker parachuted out.”
Moments like this highlight the close ties and shared experiences of the Vietnam Gold Star families and how events like AGBs can bring people together.
“That’s what it’s all about,” said Jennifer Nasarenko, DPAA Outreach and Communications director, having kicked off the event by inviting family members to take some time to tell their loved one’s stories.
Walker and Williams’ stories were only a few of the ones told by the families during the remembrance ceremony.
Those in attendance, representing 104 missing U.S. personnel, all connected by the same conflict gathered to share and carry the weight their losses together, and for 46 Gold Star family members, this was their very first time attending.
The AGB not only provided families with the latest information on their loved one’s cases, but also opened discussions about new processes, scientific advancements, and ways that families can collaborate with DPAA’s mission to provide the fullest possible accounting for missing U.S. personnel to their families and the nation.
Hon. Anthony Tata, Undersecretary of War for Personnel and Readiness, also spoke at the AGB on the sacrifices the missing have made and what it means today.
"The Vietnam War may have ceased more than half a century ago,” said Tata. “But I know that for all of you, it's never really ended, and you have spent decades carrying your silent vigil, a silent vigil for your unaccounted-[for] fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, family and friends, and waiting for answers. Know that this War Department is focused on helping you find them.”
The Gold Star families met with many scientific experts and DPAA leadership through the duration of the event, hearing firsthand how the mission is completed by DPAA’s investigative and recovery teams, as well as by the laboratories located at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, and Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska.
Through events like the Annual Government Briefings, Gold Star families can keep watch together and will be there when the fallen finally come home.
Kelly McKeague, DPAA director, spoke with the families throughout the event and encouraged open and frank discussion with the families of missing U.S. personnel, and emphasized that the Vietnam War remains the agency’s top operational priority.
“Vietnam War recovery missions are still our number one operational priority,” said McKeague. “This is the conflict that we know the most about. We have teams in Vietnam right now. We have an investigative team in Laos right now. This is and will remain to be the number one operational priority.”