Today there are 1,645 American service members that are still unaccounted-for from the Vietnam War. Make that 1,644 because Col. Francis J. McGouldrick Jr. is coming home.

13 December 1968 - U.S. Air Force Col. Francis J. McGouldrick Jr. was on a night strike mission when his B-57E Canberra aircraft collided with another aircraft over Savannakhet Province, Laos. McGouldrick was never seen again and was listed as MIA. In 1978 his official status was changed to presumed killed in action.

In 2007, a site was spotted outside of Laos that matched all the details of the 1968 crash. Then from 2011 to 2012, teams visited the crash site three times picking up wreckage and collecting human DNA. It was that DNA that was matched to McGouldrick Jr.'s great niece and nephew that made the identification 100% positive.

U.S. Air Force Col. Francis J. McGouldrick Jr. of New Haven Connecticut will be buried will full honors on 13 December 2013 at Arlington National Cemetery.  How ironic...45 years later to the day.

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