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Officials identify Air Force pilot missing from Vietnam War
Air Force News ^

Posted on 06/03/2010 6:39:37 PM PDT by SandRat

6/3/2010 - WASHINGTON (AFNS) -- Officials from the Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office announced June 2 that the remains of a U.S. serviceman, missing in action from the Vietnam War, have been identified and returned to his family for burial with full military honors.

Col. Elton L. Perrine of Pittsford, N.Y., was buried last week at Arlington National Cemetery.

On May 22, 1967, Colonel Perrine and Capt. Kenneth F. Backus completed a nighttime strike against the Cao Nung Railroad Yard near the town of Kep in North Vietnam. Seconds after the bomb run, a nearby aircrew reported seeing an isolated explosion approximately three miles east of the target, thought to be Colonel Perrine's F-4C Phantom aircraft crashing. Search and rescue attempts were not initiated because of heavy anti-aircraft fire in the area.

Analysts from DPMO developed case leads with information spanning more than 28 years. Through interviews with eyewitnesses and research in the National Archives, four locations in Lang Son Province were pinpointed as potential crash sites, separated by as many as 10 miles.

Between 1999 and 2008, U.S.-Socialist Republic of Vietnam teams, led by people from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, further analyzed leads, interviewed villagers, conducted two surveys and four excavations. The teams recovered small pieces of aircraft wreckage, human remains, personal effects and life-support equipment from the four locations.

Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from JPAC and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory also used mitochondrial DNA, which matched that of Perrine's mother, in the identification of his remains. No remains connected to Captain Backus were recovered at the locations.

For additional information on the Defense Department's mission to account for missing Americans, visit the DPMO Web site at www.dtic.mil/dpmo or call 703-699-1169.


TOPICS: VetsCoR
KEYWORDS: identified; missing; veteran; vietnnam

1 posted on 06/03/2010 6:39:38 PM PDT by SandRat
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To: SandRat

Welcome home.


2 posted on 06/03/2010 6:41:58 PM PDT by padre35 (You shall not ignore the laws of God, the Market, the Jungle, and Reciprocity Rm10.10)
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Welcome home, Airman. A thankful country awaits your return.

No war is over until all return home.

3 posted on 06/03/2010 6:42:30 PM PDT by llevrok (I am a stranger in the country I was born and raised.)
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To: SandRat

Great work by DPMO. And thanks to both of those heroes from a grateful nation.


4 posted on 06/03/2010 6:47:57 PM PDT by microgood
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To: SandRat

Welcome home Sir, RIP

(one of our pilots, he was with the 497th out of Ubon RTAFB)


5 posted on 06/03/2010 6:54:35 PM PDT by Doogle (USAF.68-73..8th TFW Ubon Thailand..never store a threat you should have eliminated)
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To: SandRat

Colonel Elton Lawrence Perrine

6 posted on 06/03/2010 7:05:42 PM PDT by HighWheeler
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To: SandRat

Hand Salute.....................two


7 posted on 06/03/2010 7:06:52 PM PDT by bmwcyle (NJ Governor Chris Christie for President)
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To: SandRat; zot

Thanks for the post.


8 posted on 06/03/2010 7:23:17 PM PDT by GreyFriar (Spearhead - 3rd Armored Division 75-78 & 83-87)
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To: SandRat
Welcome Home Colonel.

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds - and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of - wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air.
Up, up the long delirious, burning blue,
I've topped the windswept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or even eagle flew -
And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod
The high untresspassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand and touched the face of God.

9 posted on 06/03/2010 7:26:49 PM PDT by Joe 6-pack (Que me amat, amet et canem meum)
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To: SandRat

Welcome Home.


10 posted on 06/03/2010 8:15:18 PM PDT by Captain Beyond (The Hammer of the gods! (Just a cool line from a Led Zep song))
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To: GreyFriar

Thanks for the ping.


11 posted on 06/03/2010 9:00:44 PM PDT by zot
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