Mason, William Henderson
Air Force Colonel

William Henderson Mason, age 43, from Camden, Arkansas, Ouachita 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 Colonel William Henderson Mason, missing from the Vietnam War. Colonel Mason joined the U.S. Air Force from Arkansas and was a member of the 41st Tactical Airlift Squadron. On May 22, 1968, he was aircraft commander aboard a C-130 Hercules with a crew of nine on a nighttime flare mission over northern Salavan Province, Laos. The Hercules crashed during its flight, killing all nine of its crew. Immediate search efforts could not be 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 were able to individually identify the remains of the crew of the Hercules, including those of Col Mason.
Cemetery: Arlington National

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