Tiderman, John Mark
Navy Lieutenant commander

John Mark Tiderman, age 31, from Wyandotte County Kansas City, Kansas .

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: Monday, March 21, 1966
Death details: Lieutenant Commander John Mark Tiderman entered the U.S. Navy from Kansas and was a member of Attack Squadron 94, embarked aboard the USS Enterprise (CVAN 65). On March 21, 1966, he was piloting a single-seat A-4C Skyhawk (bureau number 148499, call sign “Hoboken 411”) as one of three launched from Enterprise on an armed reconnaissance mission against enemy targets in North Vietnam. During the mission, the flight leader saw a bright flash to his rear, after which he lost visual and radio contact with “Hoboken 411,” and other aircraft crews reported seeing surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) and smoke coming from “Hoboken 411’s” direction. However, no parachutes or rescue beepers were detected, and LCDR Tiderman failed to return from the mission. He was not seen again, and further attempts to locate him were unsuccessful. Today, Lieutenant Commander Tiderman 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, Fresno Bee (1966), Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency