Airmen Missing In Action From Vietnam War Are Identified
 

NEWS RELEASES from the United States Department of Defense

No. 480-07 IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 24, 2007
Media Contact: (703) 697-5131/697-5132
Public/Industry(703) 428-0711

Airmen Missing In Action From Vietnam War Are Identified

The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today
that the remains of two U.S. servicemen, missing in action from the Vietnam War,
have been identified and will be returned to their families for burial with full
military honors.

They are Col. Norman D. Eaton, of Weatherford, Okla., and Lt. Col. Paul E.
Getchell, of Portland, Maine, both U.S. Air Force.Eaton will be buried April 25
at Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C., and Getchell will be
buried later this spring at Arlington.

On Jan. 13, 1969, Eaton and Getchell crewed a B-57B Canberra bomber
participating in a nighttime attack on targets in Salavan Province, Laos.The
target area was illuminated by flares from a C-130 aircraft; however, the flares
dimmed as the B-57 began its third bombing run on the target.The crew was low on
fuel, but decided to continue the attack run without illumination.The C-130 crew
received a radio transmission indicating that the B-57 was off target and
seconds later, the plane crashed.Eaton and Getchell could not be recovered at
the time of the incident.

In 1995, a joint U.S.-Lao People's Democratic Republic (L.P.D.R.) team, led by
the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC), investigated the incident and
interviewed a Laotian citizen who recalled the crash.Another joint U.S.-L.P.D.R.
team surveyed the site and found wreckage and crew-related materials consistent
with the citizen's report.

In 2003, a joint U.S.-L.P.D.R. team excavated the crash site and recovered
Eaton's identification tag.The team was unable to complete the recovery and
subsequent teams re-visited the site five more times between 2004 and 2005
before the recovery was complete.As a result, the teams found Getchell's
identification tag, human remains and additional crew-related items.

Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence,
scientists from JPAC and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory also
used mitochondrial DNA in the identification of the remains.

For additional information on the Defense Department's mission to account for
missing Americans, visit the DPMO web site at http;//www.dtic.mil/dpmo or call
(703) 699-1169.

Re: Airmen Missing In Action From Vietnam War Are Identified
 

Hello ,
Thank you for the details of two of those no longer MIA.

For interest the B57B is noted in "US Military Aircraft Mishaps 1950-2004" by Jan van Waarde as being from the 8th Bomber Squadron 35th TFW.
Serial number 52-1561 coded "PQ" a combat loss near Tavouac, 10 miles South of A Shau valley, Laos.

May they both now rest in peace.

Alex

Re: Airmen Missing In Action From Vietnam War Are Identified
 

Thank you for reference Alex :)

Re: Airmen Missing In Action From Vietnam War Are Identified
 

For more information:

http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/pegetchell.htm

Regards, Michael Patterson
Webmaster, Arlington National Cemetery Website
http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net