(CNN) – The remains of a Vietnam War pilot have been identified more than 50 years after his plane went missing, the Department of War’s Prisoner of War and Missing in Action Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced this week. Defense of the United States.
U.S. Marine Corps Capt. Ronald W. Forrester, 25, of Odessa, Texas, disappeared in 1972 after his plane vanished during a night combat mission in the Democratic Republic of Vietnam ( North), the agency working to recover members who went missing while on duty said in a statement Wednesday.
“After entering the target area, Forrester’s aircraft ceased radio communications and never returned to base. “Search and rescue teams were unable to locate any trace of the plane or crew,” the statement said, adding that in September 1978 Forrester’s “initial status of Missing in Action was changed to Killed in Action.”
After years of searching, investigators discovered remains and material evidence believed to be related to Forrester.
DPAA scientists used circumstantial evidence recovered from the crash site, as well as mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) testing, to identify the pilot, according to the DPAA.
“Forrester’s name is recorded at the National Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., and in the Courts of the Missing of the American Battle Monuments Commission at the National Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, along with others missing from the Vietnam War. A rosette will be placed next to your name to indicate that your whereabouts have been found.”
According to the DPAA, Forrester is scheduled to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery on October 7, 2024.
