Jenkins, Paul Laverne
Air Force msgt

Paul Laverne Jenkins, age 20, from McGehee, Arkansas, Desha county.

Service era: Vietnam

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 Master Sergeant Paul Laverne Jenkins, missing from the Vietnam War. Master Sergeant Jenkins joined the U.S. Air Force from Arkansas and was a member of the 40th Air Rescue and Recovery Squadron. On June 30, 1970, he was a pararescueman 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 MSgt Jenkins was killed in the crash. Search and rescue teams were unable to recover his remains at the time due to enemy forces 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 MSgt Jenkins.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency