Dolan, Thomas Albert
Army Staff sergeant

Thomas Albert Dolan, age 22, from Baltimore, Maryland, Baltimore county.

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: August 10, 1971
Death details:  On August 10, 1971, an O-1G Bird Dog (tail number 512267) carrying two crew members was one of two aircraft conducting a visual reconnaissance mission over Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam. While trying to show the second aircraft a target in the area, the Bird Dog crashed and burned for unknown reasons. The accompanying aircraft flew to where the O-1G had crashed and observed the wreckage on the side of a hill, but saw no signs of survivors or bodies near the wreckage. Further aerial searches did not locate any survivors, and a ground search of the crash site was precluded by enemy presence in the area and hazardous terrain.

Specialist 5 Thomas Albert Dolan entered the U.S. Army from Maryland and was a member of the 101st Military Intelligence Company, 101 Airborne Division. He was the observer aboard this Bird Dog when it crashed, and his remains were not recovered. After the incident, the U.S. Army promoted SP5 Dolan to the rank of Staff Sergeant (SSG). Today, Staff Sergeant Dolan is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency