Jewell, Eugene Millard
Air Force Captain

Eugene Millard Jewell from Kansas, Shawnee county.

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: Saturday, September 4, 1965

Death details:  On September 4, 1965, an F-4C Phantom II (tail number 63-7700, call sign “Rhino 02”) took off from Ubon Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand, carrying two crew members on a bombing mission against targets near a railroad station located halfway between Tho Trang and Phu Dien Chau in Nghe An Province, North Vietnam. During a low-level run over the target area, “Rhino 02” was observed by other friendly aircraft to be hit by enemy ground fire and then crash and explode. No search was initiated because of heavy enemy activity in the loss area, and the two crew members could not be recovered at the time; however, one crew member’s remains were eventually returned to U.S. custody and identified in 1993.

First Lieutenant Eugene Millard Jewell entered the U.S. Air Force from Kansas and was a member of the 47th Tactical Fighter Squadron. He was the pilot of this Phantom II when it was shot down on September 4, 1965, and he remains unaccounted-for.  Following the incident, the U.S. Air Force promoted 1st Lt Jewell to the rank of Captain (Capt). Today, Captain Jewell is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency