Elzinga, Richard Gene
Air Force Major

Richard Gene Elzinga, age 27, from Shedd, Oregon, Linn county.

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: Thursday, March 26, 1970
Death details: On November 18, 2010, the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC, DPAA) identified the remains of Major Richard Gene Elzinga, missing from the Vietnam War. Major Elzinga joined the U.S. Air Force from Oregon and served with the 56th Special Operations Wing. On March 26, 1970, he took off as a crew member aboard an O-1 Bird Dog (tail number 51-4996, call sign “Raven 23”) on an area-familiarization mission between Vientiane and Long Tieng, Laos. The aircraft crashed at some point during the mission for unknown reasons and Maj Elzinga was killed. Attempts to locate the crash site at the time were unsuccessful. Between 1994 and 2009, human remains, aircraft wreckage, and crew-related equipment were recovered that related to “Raven 23.” Advanced forensic techniques were able to identify the human remains as those of Maj Elzinga.

Source: National Archives