Dean, Donald Chester
Navy Hospitalman 2nd class

Donald Chester Dean from St. Louis, Missouri, St. Louis county.

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: Thursday, October 2, 1969
Death details:  On October 2, 1969, a C-2A Greyhound (bureau number 152796) carrying five crew members and twenty passengers took off on a routine logistics support flight from Cubi Point Naval Station, Republic of the Philippines, to the USS Constellation (CVA 64) in the Gulf of Tonkin. En route, the aircraft was in radio and radar contact with the carrier when it suddenly disappeared from the radar. There were no distress calls or beepers heard. An extensive air and surface search was begun immediately and recovered some personal effects and aircraft debris, but no survivors. Eventually, a crash site was discovered off the coast of North Vietnam, however, no remains were recovered.

Hospital Corpsman Second Class Donald Chester Dean entered the U.S. Navy from Missouri and served in Carrier Airborne Early Warning Squadron 113 aboard the Constellation. He was a passenger aboard this Greyhound when it crashed, and was lost with the aircraft. His remains were not recovered. Today, Hospital Corpsman Second Class Dean is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Based on all information available, DPAA assessed the individual’s case to be in the analytical category of Non-recoverable.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency