Scheurich, Thomas Edwin
Navy Commander

Thomas Edwin Scheurich, age 34, from Madison County Norfolk, Nebraska .

Parents: E. J. Scheurich
Spouse: Eileen
Children: Tommie, Ellen, Mary Anne, Marguerite

Service era: Veitnam
Schools: Norfolk High, Northeast Nebraska College

Date of death: Friday, March 1, 1968
Death details: On April 23, 2025, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency identified the remains of U.S. Navy Capt. Thomas Edwin Scheurich, missing from the Vietnam War. Scheurich entered the U.S. Navy from Nebraska and was a member of Attack Squadron 35, Air Wing 9, embarked aboard the USS Enterprise (CVN 65). On March 1, 1968, he was the pilot of an A-6A Intruder aircraft, bureau number 15-2944, with one other crewmember, which took off from the Enterprise on a night strike mission against enemy targets northeast of Haiphong, North Vietnam. The last radio and radar contact with the aircraft was near the Gulf of Tonkin, five minutes from the intended target, after which all contact was lost. The other aircraft flying the mission jettisoned their ordnance and commenced a search of the coast and target areas but were unable to locate the missing plane or its crew. On April 28, 1978, the Navy reported Scheurich, then a lieutenant commander, as Killed in Action. He was later posthumously promoted to the rank of captain. After decades of investigation into the incident yielding no results, a Joint Field Activity recovery team found non-diagnostic aircraft wreckage, life support equipment, and possible remains at a site in Ha Long Village, Van Don District, Quang Ninh Province. Evidence from the mission was accessioned into the DPAA laboratory in December 2024. Based on the laboratory analysis and total circumstantial evidence, the remains were identified as those of Scheurich.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Lincoln Journal Star (1972)