Kieffer, William Lewis Jr.
Air Force Lieutenant colonel

William Lewis Jr. Kieffer, age 25, from Greenbelt, Maryland, Prince George’s county.

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: Wednesday, February 11, 1970
Death details: On June 1, 2010, the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC, now DPAA) identified the remains of Lieutenant Colonel William Lewis Kieffer Jr., missing from the Vietnam War. Lieutenant Colonel Kieffer entered the U.S. Air Force from Maryland and was a member of the 1st Special Operations Squadron. On February 11, 1970, he piloted an A1-E Skyraider (tail number unknown) on a combat mission over Laos. During an attack run against enemy troops threatening friendly ground forces in Xiangkhoang Province, his aircraft was hit by small arms fire and crashed, killing Lt Col Kieffer. Friendly forces in the area were unable to reach the crash site due to heavy enemy fire, and they could not recover Lt Col Kieffer’s remains at that time. However, between 1993 and 2009, joint U.S./Laotian investigative teams recovered human remains, aircraft wreckage, crew-related equipment, and personal effects from the crash site, and modern forensic technology was able to identify Lt Col Kieffer from among the remains.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency