Waterbury Connecticut

Andre Roland Guillet, age 22, from Ne Haven County Waterbury, Connecticut .

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: Wednesday, May 18, 1966
Death details: On May 18, 1966, an 0-1F Bird Dog (tail number 57-2877, call sign “Gombey 19”) departed Nakhon Phanom Royal Thai Air Force Base on a two-plane visual reconnaissance mission over Laos. Once airborne, “Gombey 19” was called in for a forward air control mission and directed air strikes for approximately two hours. “Gombey19 ” was radioing back assessments of air strike damage when its transmission abruptly stopped. The other aircraft on the mission flew to its last known position and saw burning wreckage below. The enemy fire prevented further observation, and the second aircraft returned to base. A search and rescue effort hampered by intense enemy ground fire. Airman Second Class (A2C) Andre Roland Guillet, who joined the U.S. Air Force from Connecticut, served with the 606th Air Commando Squadron, 1st Air Commando Wing. He was an observer aboard “Gombey 19” when the aircraft was shot down on May 18, 1966, and his remains were not recovered. While carried in a missing in action status, the U.S. Air Force promoted A2C to the rank of Master Sergeant (MSgt). On November 19, 1974, the U.S. Air Force posthumously promoted MSgt Guillet to the rank of Senior Master Sergeant (SMSgt). Today, SMSgt Guillet is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency