Chambers, Jerry Lee
Air Force Lieutenant Colonel

Jerry Lee Chambers, age 35, from Muskogee, Oklahoma, Muskogee county.

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: Wednesday, May 22, 1968
Death details: On March 13, 2009, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) identified the remains of Lieutenant Colonel Jerry Lee Chambers, missing from the Vietnam War. Lieutenant Colonel Chambers joined the U.S. Air Force from Oklahoma and was a member of the 41st Tactical Airlift Squadron. On May 22, 1968, he was the observer aboard a C-130 Hercules (serial number unknown), and one of nine crew members, on a nighttime flare mission over northern Salavan Province, Laos. The Hercules crashed during its flight, killing all nine members of the crew. Immediate search efforts were not conducted due to heavy anti-aircraft fire in the area. Between 1989 and 2008, joint Laotian, Vietnamese, and American search teams conducted field investigations and excavations in the Quang Tri Province of Vietnam, recovering aircraft wreckage and human remains. In 2009, modern forensic techniques individually identified the remains of the crew of the Hercules, including those of Lt Col Chambers.
Cemetery: Arlington National

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