Taylor, Edd David
Navy Lieutenant
Edd David Taylor, age 26, from White County Kensett, Arkansas .
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Sunday, August 29, 1965
Death details: On May 24, 2001, the Central Identification Laboratory-Hawaii (CILHI, now DPAA) identified the remains of Lieutenant Edd David Taylor, missing from the Vietnam War. Lieutenant Taylor entered the U.S. Navy from Arkansas and was a member of Attack Squadron 152, Carrier Air Wing 16. On August 29, 1965, he piloted an A-1H Skyraider (bureau number 134619, call sign “Locket 586”) that launched from the USS Oriskany (CVA-34) on a search and rescue mission over North Vietnam. While over the target area, the aircraft was shot down by enemy fire, and LT Taylor was killed when the aircraft struck a ridge and burst into flames. A strong enemy presence prevented the recovery of his remains at the time of his loss. In 2000, a joint U.S./Vietnamese team excavated the crash site in Son La Province and recovered remains that U.S. analysts identified as those of LT Taylor. Lieutenant Taylor 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, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Associated Press (1965)