Brashear, William James
Air Force Lieutenant colonel

William James Brashear from Chula Vista, California, San Diego county.

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: Thursday, May 8, 1969
Death details: On May 8, 1969, an F-4C Phantom II (tail number 64-0805, call sign “Boxer 31”) with two crew members took part in a four-plane combat mission over Laos. As the flight circled over the target area, the flight leader saw this Phantom explode in mid-air for unknown reasons. He observed both crewmen eject, one with a good parachute deployment, the other with a malfunctioning parachute. Two search and rescue (SAR) helicopters arrived shortly after and established radio contact with one of the downed Phantom’s crew members, but both helicopters were damaged and driven off by heavy enemy fire before they could carry out a rescue. A flight of A-1 Skyraiders was called in to suppress the enemy fire, and two more SAR helicopters then arrived but could not reestablish radio contact with the Phantom’s crew member. Further search efforts were unsuccessful, and enemy presence in the area precluded ground search operations. Neither crew member from the downed Phantom was recovered.

Major William James Brashear, who entered the U.S. Air Force from California, served with the 559th Tactical Fighter Squadron and was the aircraft commander of this Phantom at the time of its loss. He remains unaccounted for. Subsequent to the incident, and while carried in the status of missing in action (MIA), the U.S. Air Force promoted Major Brashear to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel (Lt Col). Today, Lieutenant Colonel Brashear is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency