Klingner, Michael Lee
Air Force Captain

Michael Lee Klingner, age 24, from Nebraska, Red Willow county.

Spouse: Married

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: Monday, April 6, 1970
Death details: First Lieutenant Michael Lee Klingner entered the U.S. Air Force from Nebraska and served in the 308th Tactical Fighter Squadron. On April 6, 1970, he piloted a single-seat F-100D Super Sabre (tail number 56-3278, call sign “Sabre 31”) out of Tuy Hoa Air Base on a strike mission against enemy targets in Laos. After attacking his primary target, 1st Lt Klinger was cleared to strike a secondary target along an enemy infiltration route that had been marked by a forward air controller (FAC). “Sabre 31” made its pass and fired on the target, but seconds later the FAC observed a large fireball and witnessed “Sabre 31” crash at (GC) YC 520 167. Other aircraft on the mission saw no parachute and detected no rescue beepers near the crash site, and searches to locate 1st Lt Klinger following the crash were unsuccessful. Subsequent to the incident, and while carried in the status of missing in action (MIA), the U.S. Air Force promoted First Lieutenant Klingner to the rank of Captain (Capt). Today, Captain Klingner is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Omaha World Herald (1970), Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency