Croskrey, Richard Glenn
Air Force Captain

Richard Glenn Croskrey from Riverside, California, Riverside county.

Service era: Korea

Date of death: Thursday, January 25, 1951
Death details: Captain Richard Glenn Croskrey, who joined the U.S. Air Force from California, was a member of the 9th Fighter-Bomber Squadron, 49th Fighter-Bomber Group. On January 25, 1951, he took off from Taegu Air Base, South Korea, in a F-80C Shooting Star (tail number 49-825A) as the lead aircraft in a four-plane dive bombing mission against enemy rail targets near Sogu-ri, North Korea. The target area was partially obscured by smoke from prior bombing runs, and as Capt Croskrey made his run over the target, he flew through the clouds of smoke. Witnesses aboard other aircraft in the formation reported that Capt Croskrey’s Shooting Star was on fire when it emerged on the other side of the target. The burning aircraft then crashed into a hill near the target and exploded. There was no indication that Capt Croskrey escaped the plane before it went down, and the presence of enemy troops in the area prevented a ground search of the crash site. His remains have not been located, and he was not identified among remains returned to U.S. custody after the war. Today, Captain Croskrey is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency