Allen, Henry Lewis
Air Force Major

Henry Lewis Allen, age 26, from Daytona Beach, Florida, Volusia county.

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: Thursday, March 26, 1970
Death details: On March 26, 1970, an O-1 Bird Dog (tail number 51-4996), call sign “Raven 23,” with two crew members took off on an area familiarization mission between Vientiane and Long Tieng, Laos. The ground station at Vientiane established radio contact with “Raven 23” twice during its mission, but on a third attempt there was no response from the crew and the Bird Dog never reached its destination. Extensive search efforts at the time failed to locate the aircraft, a crash site, or either of the two men who were aboard. After the war, the copilot’s remains were located and identified; however, the pilot was never found. First Lieutenant (1stLt) Henry Lewis Allen, who entered the U.S. Air Force from Florida, served in the Detachment One, 56th Special Operations Wing, and was the pilot of “Raven 23” when it went missing. Attempts to locate his remains following the incident have been unsuccessful. Today, Subsequent to the incident, and while carried in the status of missing in action (MIA), the U.S. Air Force promoted 1stLt Allen to the rank of Captain (Capt). On July 6, 1978, the U.S. Air Force posthumously promoted Capt Allen to the rank of (Maj). Today, Maj Allen is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency