Charles Richard Fellenz from Marshfield, Wisconsin, Wood county.
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: November 24, 1969
Death details: On October 2, 1995, Joint Task Force-Full Accounting (JTF-FA, now DPAA) identified the remains of Chief Master Sergeant Charles Richard Fellenz, missing from the Vietnam War.
Chief Master Sergeant Fellenz joined the U.S. Air Force from Wisconsin and was a member of the 41st Tactical Airlift Squadron. On November 24, 1969, he was the illuminator aboard a C-130A Hercules on a forward air controller/illumination mission over Laos. While operating near Ban Salou, Laos, the Hercules was shot down by anti-aircraft fire, and CMSgt Fellenz was killed in the crash. Immediate search and rescue efforts were prevented by heavy enemy presence in the area, and a friendly aircraft that later passed over the crash site saw no signs of survivors. In 1993, a joint U.S. and Laotian search team recovered remains from a crash site associated with CMSgt Fellenz’s C-130A. In 1995, forensic analysis identified some of the recovered remains as those of CMSgt Fellenz.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency