Jackson, Paul Vernon III
Air Force Captain

Paul Vernon Jackson III, age 26, from Hampton, Virginia, Hampton county.

Parents: Paul Jackson Jr. and Opal Jackson

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: Sunday, December 24, 1972
Death details: Captain Paul Vernon Jackson III entered the U.S. Air Force from Virginia and served with Detachment 1, 56th Special Operations Wing. On December 24, 1972, he piloted an O-1D Bird Dog (tail number 57-2958, call sign “Raven 21”) on a forward air control mission over Xiangkhoang Province, Laos, directing a flight of four A-7 Corsairs onto enemy targets. During the mission, his aircraft collided in mid-air with one of the A-7s, and crashed and burned in the vicinity of (GC) UG 024 383. There was no indication that he managed to bail out before his aircraft impacted the ground. Hostile forces in the area prevented search and rescue operations, and Capt Jackson was not recovered. He remains unaccounted for. Today, Captain Jackson is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, military documents, Daily Press, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency