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James Thompson (Chips7335), AC3
to remember
Edwards, Harry Sanford, Jr., LCDR.
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Casualty Info
Home Town Decatur, GA
Last Address Decatur, GA
Casualty Date Oct 20, 1966
Cause MIA-Finding of Death
Reason Air Loss, Crash - Land
Location Vietnam, North (Vietnam)
Conflict Vietnam War
Location of Interment Arlington National Cemetery (VLM) - Arlington, Virginia
Remains of three American servicemen previously unaccounted-for from Southeast Asia will be flown from Hickam AFB, Hawaii to the USAF mortuary, Travis AFB, Calif. on August 28, 1996. The remains were identified as Lieutenant Commander Harry S. Edwards, Jr., USN, of Decatur, Ga., and Lieutenant Colonel Anthony C. Shine, USAF, of Pleasantville, NY. The remains of a third U. S. Air Force officer have been identified, but his name is not being released at the request of the family.
On October 20, 1966, Edwards was the pilot in an A-4C in a flight of four aircraft on a combat mission over North Vietnam. He encountered moderate anti-aircraft fire enroute to the target, but no enemy fire was observed directly over the target area.
As one of the aircraft pulled off the target, he observed a large fireball and black smoke approximately one quarter mile away. No parachutes were sighted nor were there any emergency beeper signals heard by other members of the flight. As there was heavy enemy activity in the area, search and rescue operations could not be conducted at the time.
In 1988, at the request of the United States government, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV) turned over remains believed to be those of Edwards. In 1993, a joint US-Vietnamese team investigated a crash site and conducted a number of local interviews, but found no aircraft wreckage or burial site. Among the forensic tools used to confirm identification of the remains was that of mitochondrial DNA, in which a DNA sequence matched that of a maternal relative.