Ramsower, Irving Burns II
Air Force Lieutenant colonel
Irving Burns II Ramsower from Mathis, Texas, San Patricio county.
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Wednesday, March 29, 1972
Death details: On September 10, 1986, the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC, now DPAA) identified the remains of Lieutenant Colonel Irving Burns Ramsower II, missing from the Vietnam War. Lieutenant Colonel Ramsower entered the U.S. Air Force from Texas and was a member of the 16th Special Operations Squadron. On March 29, 1972, he was a crew member on an AC-130A gunship (tail number 55-0044, nicknamed “Prometheus”) that took off from Ubon Airfield, Thailand, on a night reconnaissance mission to targets east of Savannakhet in southern Laos. The aircraft was shot down by enemy surface-to-air missiles, killing Lt Col Ramsower and the other crew members. Search and rescue efforts were curtailed due to heavy enemy activity, and no remains could be recovered at that time. Between 1986 and 2006, joint U.S./Laotian teams excavated the crash site in Savannakhet Province and recovered human remains and artifacts. Investigators were able to identify Lt Col Ramsower among the remains recovered.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
