Estes, Walter O.
Navy Lieutenant commander
Walter O. Estes from Williamston, Michigan, Ingham county.
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: November 19, 1967
Death details: On October 25, 1977, the Central Identification Laboratory-Hawaii (CILHI, now DPAA) identified the remains of Lieutenant Commander Walter O. Estes II, missing from the Vietnam War.
Lieutenant Commander Estes entered the U.S. Navy from Michigan and served with Fighter Squadron 151, Carrier Air Wing 15. On November 19, 1967, he was the radar intercept officer aboard an F-4B Phantom II (bureau number 15-0997, call sign “Switchbox 110”) that launched from the USS Coral Sea (CVA-43) as the lead of two on a mission over Hai Phong Province, North Vietnam. During the mission, his aircraft was shot down by an enemy MiG fighter. Lieutenant Commander Estes ejected from the aircraft before it crashed, but he did not survive the incident. An active enemy presence in the loss area prevented any search efforts, and his remains were not recovered at the time. In 1977, the Vietnamese government returned a number of human remains to U.S. authorities, and investigators were able to identify LCDR Estes among these remains.
Source: National Archives, Military Times, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
