Dale, Charles Alva
Army Major

Charles Alva Dale, age 28, from Maricopa County Arizona.

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: Wednesday, June 9, 1965
Death details: On June 9, 1965, an OV-1C Mohawk (tail number 61-2687, call sign “Hawk 11”) carrying two crew members took off from Vung Tau Air Base on a solo reconnaissance mission over Vinh Binh Province, South Vietnam. After take off, “Hawk 11” established radio communications with Saigon ground control, at which time the pilot stated he had departed Vung Tau en route to the mission area in Vinh Binh Province. The last radio contact with the aircraft occurred in the vicinity of (GC) 48P XR 500 600, and “Hawk 11” was not heard from again. When it failed to return to base, it was declared overdue and an aerial search was conducted; however, the search failed to locate the aircraft or its two crew members. First Lieutenant Charles Alva Dale entered the U.S. Army from Arizona and was a member of 73rd Aviation Company. He was the pilot of this Mohawk when it went missing on June 9, 1965, and he was lost with the aircraft. He remains unaccounted-for. While carried in the status of missing in action (MIA), the U.S. Army promoted 1LT Dale to the rank of Major (MAJ). Subsequent to the incident, the U.S. Army posthumously promoted MAJ Dale to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel (LTC). Today, LTC Dale is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. His name is also inscribed along with all his fallen comrades on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, DC.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency