Goeden, Gene William
Navy Lieutenant (junior grade)

Gene William Goeden from Cornelius, Oregon, Washington county.

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: Friday, March 17, 1967
Death details: Body not recovered. Lieutenant Junior Grade Gene William Goeden entered the U.S. Navy from Oregon and was a member of Attack Squadron 115, embarked aboard the USS Hancock (CVA 19). He was the pilot of a single-seat A-1H Skyraider (bureau number 135225) that took off from the Hancock as wingman in a flight of two on a combat mission over enemy targets in North Vietnam. The Skyraider was searching for a downed aircraft over the Gulf of Tonkin when radar and radio contact were lost with LTJG Goeden. The flight leader’s plane crashed at about the same time, and after his rescue, the flight leader reported that he had felt a severe impact against his aircraft right before his crash, and suspected that a midair collision occurred between his and LTJG Goeden’s plane. LSTJG Goeden remains unaccounted-for. Today, Lieutenant Junior Grade Goeden is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency