James William Reed, age 27, from Cambridge, Ohio, Guernsey county. Their last known residence was in Cambridge.
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Thursday, July 24, 1970
Death details: On July 24, 1970, an F-4D Phantom II (tail number 67-7761, call sign “Falcon 72”) with two crew members took off from Udorn Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand, to escort an AC-119 Stinger on an armed night reconnaissance mission over Laos. After the Stinger fired on an enemy truck in the target area and illuminated it with flares, the Phantom moved in for an attack as well. After the Phantom’s first pass on the target, the Stinger’s crew lost radio contact with the Phantom and could not re-establish communications. They also observed a large explosion on the ground near the target area. Three other aircraft were called in to assist in a search and saw fires on the ground, which they believed to be burning wreckage from a crash. A ground search of the area was not possible at the time, but later efforts located the Phantom’s crash site and recovered the remains of the navigator. The pilot remains unaccounted for.
Captain James William Reed, who entered the U.S. Air Force from Ohio, served in the 555th Tactical Fighter Squadron and was the pilot of this Phantom when it was lost. His remains were not recovered from the crash site. Subsequent to the incident, and while carried in the status of missing in action (MIA), the U.S. Air Force promoted Captain Reed to the rank of Major (Maj). Today, Major Reed is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency