Knebel, Thomas Edward
Air Force Chief master sergeant
Thomas Edward Knebel, age 21, from Midway, Arkansas, Baxter county.
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Wednesday, May 22, 1968
Death details: On March 13, 2009, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) identified the remains of Chief Master Sergeant Thomas Edward Knebel, missing from the Vietnam War. Chief Master Sergeant Knebel joined the U.S. Air Force from Indiana and was a member of the 41st Tactical Airlift Squadron. On May 22, 1968, he was the instrument repairman aboard a C-130 Hercules with a crew of nine on a nighttime flare mission over northern Salavan Province, Laos. The Hercules crashed during its flight, killing all nine of its crew. Immediate search efforts could not be conducted due to heavy anti-aircraft fire in the area. Between 1989 and 2008, Laotian, Vietnamese, and American search teams conducted joint field investigations in the Quang Tri Province of Vietnam, recovering aircraft wreckage and human remains. In 2009, modern forensic techniques allowed for the individual identification of the remains of the C-130’s crew, including those of CMSgt Knebel.
Cemetery: Arlington National
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, findagrave.com