Fowler, James Alan
Air Force lieutenant colonel

James Alan Fowler from North Dakota, Burleigh county.

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: Tuesday, June 6, 1972

Death details:

On June 6, 1972, an F-4D Phantom II (tail number 66-6232, call sign “Gopher 01”) with two crew members was the lead plane in a flight of four on a combat air patrol mission over North Vietnam. As the flight egressed from the mission area due to depleted fuel, it approached the defensive ring around the Yen Bai Airfield, North Vietnam, and encountered both enemy fighters and surface-to-air missiles (SAMs). “Gopher 01” was damaged by an enemy SAM which caused the aircraft to burst into flames and crash in the vicinity of (GC) 48Q VK 879 141. No ejections or parachutes were observed. Due to the extremely strong enemy presence in the area of the crash site, search and rescue operations were impossible.

Lieutenant Colonel James Alan Fowler, who entered the U.S. Air Force from North Dakota, served with the 523rd Tactical Fighter Squadron and was the aircraft commander of this Phantom at the time of its loss. He remains unaccounted for. Today, Lieutenant Colonel Fowler is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency