Bell, Marvin Earl
Air Force Staff sergeant

Marvin Earl Bell, age 26, from Blytheville, Arkansas, Mississippi county.

Parents: Elmer and Joyce Bell
Spouse: June
Children: Marvin Ramsey Bell was born September 14, 1970 and stepdaughter Alicia

Service era: Vietnam
Schools: Blytheville High (1961)

Date of death: Tuesday, June 30, 1970
Death details: On March 7, 1995, Joint Task Force-Full Accounting (JTF-FA, now DPAA) identified the remains of Staff Sergeant Marvin Earl Bell, missing from the Vietnam War. Staff Sergeant Bell joined the U.S. Air Force from Arizona and was a member of the 40th Air Rescue and Recovery Squadron. On June 30, 1970, he was the flight engineer aboard an HH-53C Super Jolly Green Giant (serial number 68-8283) on a search and rescue mission over Laos. The Super Jolly Green Giant was downed by enemy ground fire during the mission, and SSgt Bell was killed in the crash. Search and rescue teams were unable to recover his remains at the time due to hostile presence in the area. In March 1994, a joint U.S. and Laotian search team recovered remains from the HH-53C’s crash site. In 1995, forensic analysis identified some of the recovered remains as those of SSgt Bell.

Source: National Archives, Associated Press (1970), Blytheville Courier News (1970), Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency