Peterson, Mark Allan
Air Force Captain

Mark Allan Peterson from Canton, Ohio, Stark county. Their last known residence was in Canton.

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: January 27, 1973
Death details: 

On January 27, 1973, an OV-10 Bronco (tail number 68-3806, call sign “Nail 89”) with a crew of two was serving as the forward air controller on a search and rescue mission for the crew of an downed F-4 Phantom near the Cua Viet River. During the mission, this aircraft was hit by an enemy surface-to-air missile. The crew in other aircraft in the area saw both crew members of the OV-10 bail out, and they watched the parachutes land fairly close to one another in the vicinity of (GC) YD 328 655. The rescue team clearly heard rescue beepers from both crew members of the Bronco and established radio communication with one of them, who stated that he was about to be captured. That was the last communication received from either of the Bronco’s crew members. The rescuers could not attempt to extract the downed fliers because of the heavy enemy presence in the area. When the North Vietnamese released U.S. prisoners of war during Operation Homecoming, the crew members of the Bronco were not among them.

Captain Mark Allan Peterson, who joined the U.S. Air Force from Ohio, served with the 23rd Tactical Air Support Squadron. He was the pilot of the Bronco when it crashed, and his remains have not been recovered. Today, Captain Peterson is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency