Preston, James Arthur
Air Force Chief master sergeant

James Arthur Preston, age 26, from Carroll County Bowdon, Georgia .

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: Sunday, May 15, 1966
Death details: On November 24, 1999, Joint Task Force-Full Accounting (JTF-FA, now DPAA) identified the remains of Colonel Lavern George Reilly, missing from the Vietnam War. Colonel Reilly entered the U.S. Air Force from Minnesota and was a member of the 4th Air Commando Squadron, He served as an observer on board an AC-47D Spooky (serial number 43-49546) on an armed reconnaissance mission departing from Da Nang Air Base in South Vietnam. While operating over Laos, the Spooky was shot down by enemy forces and Colonel Reilly was killed. Hostile presence in the area prevented immediate recovery efforts. In 1997, a joint investigative team recovered remains which were later identified as those of Colonel Reilly. Colonel Reilly is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. His name is also inscribed along with all his fallen comrades on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, DC.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Associated Press (1999), Atlant Journal (2000)