Stacyville Iowa

Pitzen, John Russell
Navy Captain

John Russell Pitzen from Stacyville, Iowa, Mitchell county.

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: August 17, 1972
Death details: On February 20, 1996, Joint Task Force–Full Accounting (JTF-FA) identified the remains of Commander John Russell Pitzen, missing from the Vietnam War.
Commander Pitzen entered the U.S. Navy from Iowa and was a member of Fighter Squadron 114, Carrier Air Wing 11. On August 17, 1972, he piloted an F-4J Phantom II (bureau number 157262, call sign “Linfield 211”) that took off from the USS Kitty Hawk (CVA-63) to escort attack aircraft on a night strike mission against an enemy target in North Vietnam. During the mission, his aircraft was struck by an enemy surface-to-air missile that caused it to crash near Haiphong, killing CDR Pitzen. His remains could not be recovered at the time. In 1991, U.S. investigators received human remains from a refugee source that correlated with a crash site near Yen Duc Village; between 1992 and 1996, a joint investigation team traveled to the crash site where excavations recovered artifacts and additional human remains, and in 1996, they were able to identify CDR Pitzen from these remains.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency

Halbach, Bruce Charles
Army Sergeant

Bruce Charles Halbach, age 21, from Stacyville, Iowa, Mitchell county.

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: Thursday, November 19, 1970
Death details: Hostile in South Vietnam

Source: National Archives

Thome, Eugene John
Navy Apprentice seaman

Eugene John Thome, age 21, from Stacyville, Iowa, Mitchell county.

Service era: Korea

Date of death: Monday, March 3, 1952
Death details: On March 2, 1952, a Landing Craft Personnel, Large (LCPL) departed the USS Chittenden County (LST-561) in the Yellow Sea off the western coast of North Korea. The LCPL was carrying nine U.S. service members and three Allied service members on a reconnaissance mission to investigate a small island near the 38th Parallel. While heading toward the mission area, the surf became too rough and the LCPL turned back, but it never returned to the Chittenden County. There were no reported communications following the landing craft’s withdrawal from the mission area. Three to four days later, clothing and pieces of the LCPL were found and the discovery of this floating debris led the U.S. Navy to determine that the crew was lost in the location of the island of Yonp’yong Do, where enemy guerrillas had been active on March 2. Of the nine U.S. service members on board, the body of one U.S. Army officer washed ashore on a small island off the west coast of the Korean peninsula and was recovered; however, the eleven others on board were not found. Seaman Apprentice Eugene John Thome entered the U.S. Navy from Iowa and served aboard the Chittenden County. He was a crew member aboard this LCPL when it went missing and was lost with the vessel. He remains unaccounted for. Today, Seaman Apprentice Thome is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. Based on all information available, DPAA assessed the individual’s case to be in the analytical category of Non-recoverable.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency

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