Widerquist, Thomas Carl
Air Force 1st lieutenant

Thomas Carl Widerquist, age 25, from Morton Grove, Illinois, Cook 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 First Lieutenant Thomas Carl Widerquist, missing from the Vietnam War. First Lieutenant Widerquist joined the U.S. Air Force from Illinois 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, South Vietnam. The aircraft was shot down during the mission, and 1st Lt Widerquist was killed in the incident. Once fighting in the area had stopped, search and rescue teams recovered the remains of most of the C-130E’s crew; however, 1st Lt Widerquist’s remains could not be individually identified until 1974.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, findagrave.com