Bowles, Dwight Pollard
Air Force Major

Dwight Pollard Bowles, age 33, from Staunton County Staunton, Virginia .

Parents: Preceded in death by J. H. Bowles
Spouse: Dixie (Blackburn
Children: Vicki, 8; Kevin, 6; Dwight David, 2

Service era: Vietnam
Schools: Wilson Memorial High graduate

Date of death: Wednesday, November 3, 1965
Death details: Captain Dwight Pollard Bowles, who joined the U.S. Air Force from Virginia, served with the 562nd Tactical Fighter Squadron. On November 3, 1965, Capt Bowles piloted a single-seat F-105 Thunderchief (tail number 61-0163) on a bombing mission over North Vietnam. The Thunderchief was the fourth aircraft in a flight of four, and when the pilot made his bomb run on the target, other pilots in the flight saw that ordnance was released only from the right side of the aircraft. The ordnance on the left side failed to separate, and as Capt Bowles pulled up and turned, his Thunderchief crashed into a hill and exploded. He was not seen to eject, and no emergency beepers were detected afterward. A search and rescue effort was not possible due to enemy activity in the area. After the incident, the U.S. Air Force promoted Capt Bowles to the rank of Major (Maj). Today, Major Bowles 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, Daily News Leader (1965), Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency