Bates, Paul Jennings Jr.
Army Captain

Paul Jennings Bates Jr., age 18, from Arizona, Maricopa county.

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: Tuesday, August 10, 1971

Death details:  On August 10, 1971, an O-1G Bird Dog (tail number 512267) carrying two crew members was one of two aircraft conducting a visual reconnaissance mission over Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam. While trying to show the second aircraft a target in the area, the Bird Dog crashed and burned for unknown reasons. The accompanying aircraft flew to where the O-1G had crashed and observed the wreckage on the side of a hill, but saw no signs of survivors or bodies near the wreckage. Further aerial searches did not locate any survivors, and a ground search of the crash site was precluded by enemy presence in the area and hazardous terrain.

Captain Paul Jennings Bates Jr. entered the U.S. Army from Arizona and was a member of 220th Aviation Company, 212nd Aviation Battalion, 11th Combat Aviation Group, 1st Aviation Brigade. He was the pilot of this Bird Dog when it crashed, and his remains were not recovered. Today, Captain Bates is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency