Pilkington, Thomas Holt
Navy Lieutenant commander

Thomas Holt Pilkington, age 25, from Morton Grove, Illinois, Cook county.

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: Monday, September 19, 1966
Death details: On September 19, 1966, an F-4B Phantom II (bureau number 152985) with a crew of two took off from the aircraft carrier USS Coral Sea (CV 43) as the number two aircraft in a two-plane armed reconnaissance mission over North Vietnam. As the two aircraft flew over the coast line, the flight leader observed a possible surface-to-air missile, and called for evasive maneuvers. The flight leader did not hear a response from the number two aircraft, which was not seen or heard from again. Search and rescue teams searched the area, but found no sign of a crash site or survivors from the Phantom’s crew. Both crew members remain unaccounted for following the incident.

Lieutenant Junior Grade Thomas Holt Pilkington, who joined the U.S. Navy from Illinois, was a member of Fighter Squadron 154. He was radio intercept officer aboard the Phantom when it went missing and was lost along with the aircraft. Attempts to locate him or his remains have been unsuccessful. Following the incident, the Navy promoted LTJG Pilkington to the rank of Lieutenant Commander (LCDR). Today, Lieutenant Commander Pilkington is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Chicago Tribune, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency