Meldahl, Charles Howard
Army Staff sergeant

Charles Howard Meldahl, age 20, from Monroe, Washington, Snohomish county.

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: Sunday, October 20, 1968
Death details: On November 13, 2000, Joint Task Force–Full Accounting (JTF-FA, now DPAA) identified the remains of Staff Sergeant Charles Howard Meldahl, missing from the Vietnam War. Staff Sergeant Meldahl entered the U.S. Army from Washington and served with the 243rd Assault Helicopter Company, 10th Combat Aviation Battalion. On October 20, 1968, he was the crew chief aboard a CH-47A Chinook (tail number 66-19053, call sign “Freight Train 53”) that took off from Dong Ba Thien Airfield, South Vietnam, on a resupply mission to Ban Me Thuot. While over the Ninh Hoa Valley, the helicopter crashed for unknown reasons, killing SSG Meldahl. His body could not be recovered at the time. The crash site was eventually located in Khan Hoa Province and in 1995, a U.S. investigative team recovered human remains that analysts were able to identify as those of SSG Meldahl.
Cemetery: Arlington National

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, findagrave.com