FOBAIR, ROSCOE HENRY

Remains Identified 02/2001

Name: Roscoe Henry Fobair
Rank/Branch: O3/US Air Force
Unit: 47th TFS
Date of Birth: 30 September 1935
Home City of Record: Oxnard CA
Date of Loss: 24 July 1965
Country of Loss: North Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 210657N 1050857E (WJ155348)
Status (in 1973): Missing in Action
Category: 2
Acft/Vehicle/Ground: F4C

Other Personnel in Incident: Richard P. Keirn (released POW)

Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 01 April 1991 from one or more of
the following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence
with POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews. Updated by the P.O.W.
NETWORK 2023.

REMARKS: AC TOLD DEAD BY VIETNAMESE

SYNOPSIS: The Phantom, used by Air Force, Marine and Navy air wings, served
a multitude of functions including fighter-bomber and interceptor, photo and
electronic surveillance. The two man aircraft was extremely fast (Mach 2),
and had a long range (900 - 2300 miles, depending on stores and mission
type). The F4 was also extremely maneuverable and handled well at low and
high altitudes. Most pilots considered it one of the "hottest" planes
around.

Capt. Roscoe H. Fobair was the pilot and Capt. Richard P. Keirn the
weapons/systems operator on an F4C sent on a combat mission near Hanoi on
July 24, 1965. About 40 miles east-northeast of Hanoi, in Vinh Phu Province,
the aircraft was shot down.

Roscoe Fobair was captured by the North Vietnamese, but Fobair's fate
remained unclear. Sometime in late 1972 or early 1973, the North Vietnamese
announced that Fobair had died, failing to say when, or if he had been a
captive. Fobair remained classified Missing in Action.

Keirn spent the next 7 1/2 years as a prisoner of war. Like other Americans,
he endured torture and deprivation at the hands of the Vietnamese. Then on
February 12, 1973, he was released in Operation Homecoming.

Since the war ended, over 10,000 reports relating to Americans missing,
prisoner or unaccounted for in Southeast Asia have been received by the U.S.
Government. Many authorities who have examined this largely classified
information are convinced that hundreds of Americans are still held captive
today. These reports are the source of serious distress to many returned
American prisoners. They had a code that no one could honorably return
unless all of the prisoners returned. Not only that code of honor, but the
honor of our country is at stake as long as even one man remains unjustly
held. It's time we brought our men home.

Roscoe H. Fobair was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel during the
period he was maintained missing.

=============================
UPDATE LINE: February 6, 2001

Thank you for calling the National League of Families Update Line.  This
message is being recorded on Tuesday, February 6th.  According to the
Department of Defense, the number of Americans missing and unaccounted for
from the Vietnam War is now 1,990.

The Department of Defense announced last week that LtCol Roscoe Fobair,
USAF, is now accounted for.  Missing since July 24th, 1965, LtCol Fobair's
remains, jointly recovered in Vietnam, were repatriated on January 16, 1998.
The League extends understanding to the relatives and friends of LtCol
Fobair, confident that the accounting for him brings long awaited peace of
mind. This brings the number still missing and unaccounted for from the
Vietnam War to 1,990.  Of these losses, 1497 are in Vietnam, 418 are in
Laos, 67 are in Cambodia and 8 are in the territorial waters of the PRC,
though over 90% of all losses from the Vietnam War occurred in areas under
Vietnamese wartime control.

------------------------------------------------------

Los Angeles Times
Sunday, April 1, 2001

VALLEY NEWS MIA Mystery Solved Search: After 34 years of waiting, a family
will hold a memorial service for missing Air Force pilot whose remains were
found in Vietnam.

DAVID PIERSON
Times Staff Writer

...Ross Fobair was his nephew's all-American hero. He looked like a knight in
his flight suit. And then he was shot down, 45 miles northeast of Hanoi in
1965, the first American pilot claimed by a SAM surface-to-air missile in
the Vietnam War.....

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01/2020

https://dpaa.secure.force.com/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt000000sPLx9EAG

• Conflict
• Service
• Status
• Date of Accounting

• VIETNAM WAR
• UNITED STATES AIR FORCE
• Accounted For
• 06/28/2000

On June 28, 2000, Joint Task Force–Full Accounting (JTF-FA, now DPAA) identified the remains of Lieutenant Colonel Roscoe Henry Fobair, missing from the Vietnam War.

Lieutenant Colonel Fobair entered the U.S. Air Force from California and served with the 836th Air Division. On July 24, 1965, he was the aircraft commander aboard an F-4C Phantom II (tail number 63-7599) on an escort mission over North Vietnam. While en route to the target, the aircraft was shot down by an enemy surface-to-air missile, killing Lt Col Fobair. No search could be made due to the crash location, and Lt Col Fobair's remains were not recovered at the time. In 1998, the Vietnamese government repatriated remains correlating to this loss that U.S. investigators identified as those of Lt Col Fobair.

Lieutenant Fobair is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. 

If you are a family member of this serviceman, you may contact your casualty office representative to learn more about your service member.

 

Lt Col ROSCOE HENRY FOBAIR

• Unit
• Historical Country of Loss
  North Vietnam
• Current Country of Loss
  VIETNAM
• Home of Record CA