Francis Barnes Midnight from Gary, Indiana.
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Wednesday, August 23, 1967
Death details: On August 23, 1967, an F-4 Phantom II (tail number 66-7517, call sign “Sapphire 02”) took off for an armed reconnaissance mission over Quang Binh Province, North Vietnam. When the Phantom reached the target area, the pilot radioed in that he was rolling in to attack, and shortly thereafter the Phantom crashed near the target in the vicinity of grid coordinates XE 712 139, producing a large fireball. The copilot successfully ejected; radio contact with him was immediately established, and he was recovered by a search and rescue effort. The aircraft commander could not be recovered. After being rescued, the surviving crew member stated that the other man had not had time to eject before the crash.
Captain Francis Barnes Midnight, who joined the U.S. Air Force from Indiana, served with the 435th Tactical Fighter Squadron. He was the aircraft commander of the Phantom when it crashed, and attempts to locate and recover his remains have been unsuccessful. Today, Captain Midnight is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency