Frederick John Sutter, age 25, from Johnson County Leawood, Kansas .
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Friday, December 31, 1971
Death details: On December 31, 1971, a F-4D Phantom II (tail number 66-7573, call sign “Owl 2”) with a crew of two departed Ubon Royal Thai Air Force Base on a nighttime forward air controller (FAC) mission for a target area south of Mu Gia Pass on the Laotian border. When the aircraft was in the vicinity of grid coordinates WE 751 343, it was contacted by another FAC plane which passed on the target coordinates of several trucks in the area south of the pass. After heading for the target area, the F-4D failed to return to base within the appointed time. Electronic and visual searches were carried out, but were unsuccessful. Captain Frederick John Sutter, who joined the U.S. Air Force from Kansas, served with the 497th Tactical Fighter Squadron, 8th Tactical Fighter Wing. He was the weapons systems officer aboard the Phantom II when it disappeared, and his remains were not recovered. Captain Sutter is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. His name is also inscribed along with all his fallen comrades on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, DC.
Source: National Archives
