Mailhes, Lawrence Scott
Navy Lieutenant (junior grade)

Lawrence Scott Mailhes, age 24, from Garland County Hot Springs, Arkansas .

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: Tuesday, August 10, 1965
Death details: Lieutenant Junior Grade (LTJG) Lawrence Scott Mailhes, who joined the U.S. Navy from Arkansas, served with Attack Squadron 125 aboard the USS Oriskany (CVA 34). On August 10, 1965, he piloted a single-seat A-1J Skyraider (bureau number 142021, call sign “Locket 583”) on an operational mission. During the flight, LTJG Mailhes responded to a radio call informing him that his lead aircraft was climbing in altitude for a rendezvous. However, after completing two rendezvous turns, his flight leader was unable reestablish radio contact with LTJG Mailhes. Soon after, the flight leader saw oil slicks and debris in the water below the flight path. No crash was witnessed and extensive searches found no sign of LTJG Mailhes. Today, Lieutenant Junior Grade Mailhes 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, Kansas City Star (1965), Defense PoW/MIA Accounting Agency