Whitford, Lawrence W. Jr.
Air Force Colonel

Lawrence W. Jr. Whitford from Cedar Falls, Iowa, Black Hawk county.

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: November 2, 1969
Death details: 

On November 2, 1969, an F-100F Super Sabre (tail number 56-3796) took off from Tuy Hoa Air Base, South Vietnam, carrying two crew members on a forward air controller (FAC) mission over the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos. The last radio transmission received from the pilot stated that he was running out of fuel over Attapeu Province, about 20 miles east of the city of Muong May. The Super Sabre had a scheduled refueling, but when it failed to make the rendezvous, an aerial search was launched. The search found no sign of the aircraft, a crash site, or the missing crew. Because the aircraft disappeared over an area heavily infiltrated by enemy forces, a ground search could not be conducted. The aircraft and its two crew members remain unaccounted for.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency