Bezold, Steven Neil
Army Captain

Steven Neil Bezold, age 24, from McKittrick, Missouri, Gasconade county.

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: Tuesday, October 29, 1968
Death details:  On October 29, 1968, an O-1G Bird Dog (tail number 57-6027) with a crew of two took part in a two-plane artillery adjustment mission over the Demilitarized Zone in between North and South Vietnam. During the mission, the Bird Dog was hit by enemy anti-aircraft fire and crashed. No parachutes were seen to emerge from the aircraft before it went down. Search and rescue teams were launched the next day, but intense hostile fire in the area prevented them from reaching the crash site. Both members of the Bird Dog’s crew remain unaccounted for.

First Lieutenant Steven Neil Bezold, who joined the U.S. Army from Missouri, was a member of the 2nd Battalion, 94th Artillery Regiment, 108th Artillery Group. He was serving as observer aboard the Bird Dog when it went down, and was lost with the aircraft. His remains have not been located or identified. Following the incident, the Army promoted 1LT Bezold to the rank of Captain (CPT). Today, Captain Bezold is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency