Sayre, Leslie Berkley
Army 1st lieutenant

Leslie Berkley Sayre from Fairborn, Ohio, Greene county. Their last known residence was in Fairborn.

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: Wednesday, March 20, 1968
Death details: Hostile, body not recovered, South Vietnam. On March 20, 1968, an O-1D Bird Dog (tail number 2697) carrying two crew members was conducting a visual reconnaissance mission over a wooded area in South Vietnam. During the mission, the pilot put the plane into a gentle dive during which the propeller hit a tree top, causing the aircraft to crash and catch fire. One crew member was able to pull himself from the burning aircraft to safety and while doing so, he observed the pilot slumped over in his seat and with no signs of life. The surviving crew member was then taken captive. A Viet Cong rallier later reported that the pilot’s body was removed from the wreckage and buried by locals, but attempts to locate and recover the remains were unsuccessful.

Cemetery: Memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency