Anaheim

Bobby Joe Alberton from Anaheim, California, Orange county.

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: Tuesday, May 31, 1966
Death details: 

On May 31, 1966, a C-130 Hercules (tail number 64-0511, call sign “Radium 1”) with a crew of eight departed Da Nang Air Base, South Vietnam, on a classified mission over North Vietnam. No radio communications were expected. When the aircraft failed to return to base, search and rescue efforts were initiated, but were unsuccessful. Several days later, the North Vietnamese announced that they had shot down a C-130, and that they had recovered and buried several bodies. The aircraft is believed to have been shot down in Tranh Hoa Province.

Staff Sergeant Bobby Joe Alberton, who joined the U.S. Air Force from California, served with the 61st Troop Carrier Squadron. He was the flight engineer aboard the C-130 when it disappeared on May 31, 1966, and his remains were not recovered. After the incident, the Air Force promoted SSgt Alberton to Chief Master Sergeant (CMSgt). Today, Chief Master Sergeant Alberton is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency