
Jerry Glen Bridges, age 20, from Columbia, Tennessee, Maury county.
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Sunday, October 20, 1968
Death details: On November 13, 2000, Joint Task Force–Full Accounting (JTF-FA, now DPAA) identified the remains of Staff Sergeant Jerry Glen Bridges, missing from the Vietnam War. Staff Sergeant Bridges entered the U.S. Army from Tennessee and served with the 243rd Assault Helicopter Company, 10th Combat Aviation Battalion. On October 20, 1968, he was the flight engineer aboard a CH-47A Chinook (tail number 66-19053, call sign “Freight Train 53”) that took off from Dong Ba Thien Airfield, South Vietnam, on a resupply mission to Ban Me Thuot. While over the Ninh Hoa Valley area, the helicopter crashed for unknown reasons, killing SSG Bridges. His body was not recovered at the time. The crash site was eventually located in Khan Hoa Province and in 1995, a U.S. investigative team recovered human remains that analysts were able to identify as those of SSG Bridges.
Cemetery: Arlington National
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, findagrave.com