Austin, Ellis Ernest
Navy Commander

Ellis Ernest Austin, age 44, from Vermontville, Michigan, Eaton county.

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: April 21, 1966
Death details: On April 21, 1966, an A-6A Intruder (bureau number 151798) with two crew members took part in a two-plane night attack mission against an enemy supply and barracks area on the coast of North Vietnam. During the mission, the wingman observed a bright flash from the direction of this Intruder. The wingman then lost contact with this aircraft and it disappeared from friendly radar tracking. A surface-to-air missile (SAM) warning had been sounded earlier, but the wingman had no basis to believe a SAM had been launched. Search and rescue efforts were unable to locate this Intruder or either of its crew members.

Lieutenant Commander Ellis Ernest Austin, who entered the U.S. Navy from Michigan, served with Attack Squadron 85. He was the bombardier/navigator aboard this Intruder at the time of its loss on April 21, 1966, and he was lost in the incident and remains unaccounted-for. While carried in the status of missing in action (MIA), the U.S. Navy promoted LCDR Austin to the rank of Commander (CDR). Today, CDR Austin is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency