Rhodes, Ferris Ansel Jr.
Army Major
Ferris Ansel Jr. Rhodes, age 34, from Greenwood, South Carolina, Greenwood county.
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Sunday, January 3, 1971
Death details: On January 3, 1971, a U-6A Beaver (tail number 52-2584) took off carrying a pilot and six passengers on an administrative support flight from Qui Nhon to Ban Me Thuot, South Vietnam. The flight was over mountainous terrain and flown in inclement weather. Radar contact was lost with the aircraft fourteen miles southeast of Phu Cat, South Vietnam, in the vicinity of (GC) BR 960 250, and the U-6A never reached Ban Me Thuot. Attempts to locate the aircraft, pilot, or any of the passengers following the disappearance were unsuccessful. Captain Ferris Ansel Rhodes Jr. entered the U.S. Army from South Carolina and was a member of Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 223rd Aviation Battalion, 17th Aviation Group, 1st Aviation Brigade. He was the pilot of this U-6A when it was lost, and remains unaccounted for. After the incident, the U.S. Army promoted Captain Rhodes to the rank of Major. Today, Major Rhodes is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
