Holley, Tilden Stewart
Air Force Lieutenant colonel

Tilden Stewart Holley, age 32, from Cameron, Texas, Milam county.

Parents: Tilden Sumpter Holley (1910-93) and Reba Holley (1913-93)

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: Saturday, January 20, 1968
Death details: On January 20, 1968, an F-4C Phantom II (tail number 64-0797) with two crew members took off as the lead aircraft on a two-plane nighttime armed reconnaissance mission over North Vietnam. Over the target area, the two aircraft came under fire from enemy anti-aircraft artillery and pulled off from the target. The commander of this Phantom then advised the other aircraft to hold back while he went back to survey the target area again. While holding above the cloud layer, the other aircraft saw a bright orange glow from beneath the overcast in the vicinity of (GC) 48Q XE 573 537. Radio contact with the lead Phantom was lost at this time. Search and rescue efforts, complicated by darkness and bad weather, failed to locate the missing Phantom or its crew. Ground searches were not possible since the loss area was in enemy-controlled territory, and both crew members aboard the Phantom could not be located following the incident. Captain Tilden Stewart Holley, who entered the U.S. Air Force from Texas, served in the 389th Tactical Fighter Squadron and was the aircraft commander of this Phantom at the time of its loss. He remains unaccounted for. Following the incident, the Air Force promoted Capt Holley to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel (LtCol). Today, Lieutenant Colonel Holley is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, findagrave.com