Hardin, Ethan C.
Army Specialist
Ethan C. Hardin, age 25, from Fayetteville, Arkansas, Washington county.
Service era: Afghanistan
Military history: 2nd Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, Fort Polk, Louisiana.
Date of death: Friday, January 7, 2011
Death details: Died of wounds suffered at Logar Province, Afghanistan when insurgents attacked his unit using an improvised explosive device and small arms fire. Pfc Ira B. Laningham IV was also killed.
Source: Department of Defense, Military Times, Air Force
On March 1, 1969, Keller and Meroney were the crew of an F-4D Phantom II aircraft that crashed while carrying out a nighttime strike mission in Khammouan Province, Laos. Nearby U.S. aircrews reported seeing the aircraft hit by enemy fire. No parachutes were seen after the aircraft was hit. Heavy enemy presence in the area prevented recovery efforts. From 1994 to 2011, joint U.S.-Lao People’s Democratic Republic (L.P.D.R.) teams, led by Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC), conducted several investigations and excavations of the crash site in Khammouan Province, Laos. The teams located human remains, military equipment, a military identification card, and aircraft wreckage of an F-4, including an engine data plate and radio call-sign plate. During the 17 years of investigations, analysts evaluated the material evidence and the accounts of more than 40 eyewitnesses to confirm the information correlated with the crew’s loss location. To identify the remains, scientists from JPAC used circumstantial evidence and forensic identification tools including dental comparisons and radiograph comparisons.