Slater, Freddie Leon
Air Force Staff sergeant

Freddie Leon Slater from Baltimore, Maryland, Baltimore county.

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: Wednesday, May 3, 1972
Death details: On June 12, 1974, the Central Identification Laboratory-Thailand (CILT, now DPAA) identified the remains of Staff Sergeant Freddie Leon Slater, missing from the Vietnam War.

Staff Sergeant Slater joined the U.S. Air Force from Maryland and was a member of the 345th Tactical Airlift Squadron, 374th Tactical Airlift Wing. On May 3, 1972, he was a crew member aboard a C-130E Hercules that took off on a resupply mission near An Loc, Vietnam. The aircraft was shot down during the mission, and SSgt Slater was killed in the incident. Once fighting in the area subsided, search and rescue teams recovered the remains of most of the crew; however, SSgt Slater’s remains could not be individually identified until 1974.

Source: National Archives, Defense MIA/POW Accounting Agency