EAST, JAMES BOYD JR.
REMAINS RETURNED  Identified 07/28/97

Name: James Boyd East, Jr.
Rank/Branch: O4/United States Air Force/pilot
Unit:
Date of Birth: 28 November 1933
Home City of Record: Oklahoma City OK
Date of Loss: 26 April 1969
Country of Loss: Laos
Loss Coordinates: 194410 North  1031747 East
Status (in 1973): Killed in Action/Body not recovered
Category: 4
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: A-1J Skyraider
Missions:
Other Personnel in Incident: none

Source: Compiled by P.O.W. NETWORK from one or more of the following: raw
data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA
families, published sources, interviews.

REMARKS:

DOD announces identification of remains
No. 128-M
July 28, 1997

MEMORANDUM FOR CORRESPONDENTS

The remains of two American servicemen previously unaccounted-for from
Southeast Asia have been identified and are being returned to their families
for burial in the United States.

They are identified as Maj. James B. East, USAF, of Oklahoma City, Okla. and
Lt. Col. Thomas R. Morgan, USAF, of Akron, Ohio.

On April 26, 1969, East was attacking an enemy mortar position in Laos when
his A-1J Skyraider was struck by enemy ground fire. The aircraft crashed and
exploded.

In 1994, a Lao witness identified a possible crash site associated with that
of East. A joint U.S./Lao Recovery Team excavated the site later that year
and found aircraft wreckage, pilot-related items, and human bone fragments.

On January 26, 1967, Morgan was conducting a strike mission over a target in
South Vietnam. As the attack began, pilots in other aircraft on the mission
observed smoke trailing from Morgan s F100D Super Sabre. His plane burst
into flames and broke in half prior to impact.=20

Investigations of Morgan s crash site were conducted in 1967 and 1968 by
American investigators, but no remains were located. A joint U.S./Vietnamese
recovery team in 1994 excavated the crash site and found human remains. In
1996, a local Vietnamese turned over more bone fragments and personal
effects of Morgan scavenged from the crash site. Morgan s remains were
subsequently identified.

Mitochondrial DNA testing was used to confirm the two identifications. The
remains will be shipped from the U.S. Army Central Identification Laboratory
in Hawaii at a date to be determined by the families.

With the identification of these two servicemen, there remain 2,116
unaccounted-for Americans from the Vietnam War.

The U.S. government welcomes and appreciates the cooperation of the
governments of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the Lao People s
Democratic Republic which resulted in the accounting of these servicemen. We
hope that such cooperation will bring increased results in the future.
Achieving the fullest possible accounting for these Americans is of the
highest national priority.

August 24, 1997

"Oklahoma Aviator Killed In Vietnam Is Laid to Rest

SAN ANTONIO (AP) --  An Air Force pilot from Oklahoma who was shot down over
Laos during a covert special operations mission during the Vietnam War 28 
years ago has finally been laid to rest.

Air Force Maj. James B. East Jr., a father of three who was 35 at the time of
his death, was buried Friday at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery.

East was listed as missing in action and later as killed in action in 1969.

His remains were recovered in 1994 after a Laotian citizen reported finding a
possible crash site, and a recovery team excavated the site,finding the 
wreckage, pilot-related items and human bone fragments.

The remains were identified through DNA testing and returned to the United
States in 1994. East is survived by his wife, Fritzy Parham of Austin; a son,
Kip East of Clovis, New Mexico;and two daughters, Jamie East of Oklahoma City
and Kevin East of Austin"  

[Distributed through the P.O.W. NETWORK]