Promote & Preserve stories of U.S. fallen soldiers/sailors
Keith Emerson Fiscus, age 26, from Townsend, Delaware, New Castle county.
Service era: Iraq
Military history: Company C, 1St Battalion, 27Th Infantry, Schofield Barracks, Hi
Date of death: Saturday, December 2, 2006
Death details: Hostile; Baghdad, Iraq
Source: Department of Defense, Military Times
Gene Karl Hess, age 32, from Townsend, Delaware, New Castle county.
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Friday, June 17, 1966
Death details: On June 17, 1966, a C-130E Hercules (tail number 63-7785) carrying fourteen service members took off from Cam Ranh Bay, South Vietnam, en route to Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, Japan. Approximately twenty minutes after take-off, the Hercules exploded for unknown reasons and crashed into the South China Sea. Nearby ships witnessed the incident and quickly arrived on the scene to assist in rescue operations, and recovered the remains of two service members. However, twelve individuals who were aboard the aircraft were lost during the incident and remain unaccounted-for. Staff Sergeant Gene Karl Hess entered the U.S. Air Force from Delaware and was a member of the 51st Field Maintenance Squadron. He was a passenger aboard this Hercules when it crashed, and his remains could not be recovered following the incident. Today, Staff Sergeant Hess 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