Tag: Fort Dodge Iowa

Terrence Hastings Griffey from Fort Dodge, Iowa, Webster county.

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: Thursday, May 26, 1966
Death details:  On May 26, 1966, an F-4C Phantom II (serial number 64-0722) with a crew of two departed Cam Ranh Bay Air Base, South Vietnam, as the number two aircraft in a flight of three on a close air support mission over Binh Dinh Province, South Vietnam. During a bomb pass over the target, the F-4C burst into flames, exploded in mid-air at low altitude, and disintegrated on impact in the vicinity of (GC) CR 104 367. No parachutes were seen, and no electronic beacon signals were heard. The heavy enemy presence in the vicinity prevented a search and rescue team from reaching the crash site.

First Lieutenant Terrence Hastings Griffey, who joined the U.S. Air Force from Iowa, served with the 391st Tactical Fighter Squadron. He was the pilot of the Phantom when it crashed, and his remains were not recovered. Today, First Lieutenant Griffey is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency