Sigafoos, Walter Harrison III
Air Force Captain

Walter Harrison Sigafoos III from Richboro, Pennsylvania, Bucks county.

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: April 25, 1971
Death details:  On April 25, 1971, an F-4D Phantom II (tail number 66-007616) with two crew members took off from Da Nang Air Base, South Vietnam, as part of a two-plane escort for an AC-119 gunship on a night reconnaissance and strike mission over Laos. Approximately two hours into the mission, the gunship dropped a flare to direct this Phantom to an identified target. The Phantom’s pilot stated he could not see the flare from his current position and that he would proceed north in attempt to acquire it. This was the last radio contact made with the missing Phantom, and it was not seen again. It was presumed lost northeast of the city of Ban Phone in Xekong Province, Laos. Both crewmen were declared missing in action.

First Lieutenant Walter Harrison Sigafoos III entered the U.S. Air Force from Pennsylvania and was a member of the 421st Tactical Fighter Squadron. He was the navigator aboard this Phantom and was lost with the aircraft. His remains have not been accounted for. Subsequent to the incident, and while carried in the status of missing in action (MIA), the U.S. Air Force promoted First Lieutenant Sigafoos to the rank of Captain (Capt). Today, Captain Sigafoos is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives., Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency