The remains of six Airmen whose plane was shot down over Laos in 1965 were buried in a single casket today at Arlington National Cemetery.
According to the Department of Defense, Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command scientists identified the men recently using dental records and "circumstantial evidence."
The Department of the Defense reports:
On Dec. 24, 1965, the crew was aboard an AC-47D aircraft nicknamed “Spooky” that failed to return from a combat strike mission in southern Laos.
After a “mayday” signal was sent, all contact was lost with the crew. Following the crash, two days of search efforts for the aircraft and crew were unsuccessful.
The Airmen were identified as:
- Air Force Col. Joseph Christiano of Rochester, New York
- Col. Derrell B. Jeffords of Florence, South Carolina
- Lt. Col. Dennis L. Eilers of Cedar Rapids, Iowa;
- Chief Master Sgt. William K. Colwell of Glen Cove, New York
- Chief Master Sgt. Arden K. Hassenger of Lebanon, Oregon
- Chief Master Sgt. Larry C. Thornton of Idaho Falls, Idaho.
They were buried with full military honors.
The widow of Col. Derrill B. Jeffords, 86-year-old Jeanne Jeffords, lives in Temecula. She told the Associated Press that her her children, who accompanied her to the Arlington burial, were just teenagers when their father died:
"I've lived with it for so long, I'm all teared out... For all these years we just had a list of names."
