Freng, Stanley Jon
Navy Petty officer 2nd class

Stanley Jon Freng, age 43, from South Dakota, Yankton county.

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: Friday, June 17, 1966

Death details: On June 17, 1966, a C-130E Hercules (tail number 63-7785) carrying fourteen service members took off from Cam Ranh Bay, South Vietnam, en route to Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, Japan. Approximately twenty minutes after take-off, the Hercules exploded for unknown reasons and crashed into the South China Sea. Nearby ships witnessed the incident and quickly arrived on the scene to assist in rescue operations, and recovered the remains of two service members. However, twelve individuals who were aboard the aircraft were lost during the incident and remain unaccounted-for.

Aviation Machinist’s Mate Second Class Stanley Jon Freng entered the U.S. Navy from South Dakota and was a member of Air Transport Squadron 7. He was a crew member aboard this Hercules when it crashed, and his remains could not be recovered following the incident. Today, Aviation Machinist’s Mate Second Class? Freng is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Based on all information available, DPAA assessed the individual’s case to be in the analytical category of Non-recoverable.

Cemetery: Memorialized in Black Hills National

Source: National Archives, grave marker, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency