Behnfeldt, Roger Ernest
Air Force Captain

Roger Ernest Behnfeldt, age 27, from Defiance, Ohio, Defiance county. Their last known residence was in Defiance.

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: Wednesday, August 19, 1972
Death details:  On December 4, 1987, the Central Identification Laboratory-Hawaii (CILHI, now DPAA) identified the remains of Major Roger Ernest Behnfeldt, missing from the Vietnam War.

Major Behnfeldt joined the U.S. Air Force from Ohio and was a member of the 14th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron. On August 19, 1972, he piloted an RF-4C Phantom II (serial number 66-0355) on a weather reconnaissance mission over enemy territory in Vietnam. Maj Behnfeldt’s aircraft was shot down by a surface-to-air missile during the mission, and he was killed in the incident. Search efforts failed to locate him at the time. In September 1987, the Vietnamese government returned the alleged remains of Maj Behnfeldt to U.S. custody, and forensic analysis confirmed the identification shortly thereafter.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency