Chesnutt, Chambless Marshall Air Force Major

Chambless M. Chesnutt, age 31, from Little Rock, Arkansas, Pulaski county.

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: Thursday, September 30, 1965

Death details: On April 8, 1985, the Central Identification Laboratory-Hawaii (CILH, now DPAA) identified the remains of Major Chambless Marshall Chesnutt, missing from the Vietnam War.

Major Chesnutt joined the U.S. Air Force from Tennessee and was a member of the 47th Tactical Fighter Squadron. On September 30, 1965, he was the aircraft commander of an F-4C Phantom II (tail number 640680) on a strike mission against enemy targets in Vietnam. As the flight regrouped to return to base after the mission, Maj Chesnutt’s Phantom was shot down by anti-aircraft fire and he was killed. Heavy enemy presence in the area prevented attempts to reach the crash site at that time. In March of 1985, the Vietnamese government returned remains to American authorities that were eventually identified as those of Maj Chesnutt.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency