JEFFERSON, PERRY HENRY

Remains ID announced 12/18/2007

Name: Perry Henry Jefferson Rank/Branch: O3/US Air Force Unit: 120th Tactical Fighter Squadron, 35th Tactical Fighter Wing Date of Birth: 18 August 1931 Home City of Record: Denver CO Date of Loss: 03 April 1969 Country of Loss: South Vietnam Loss Coordinates: 114300N 1091200E (BP750005) Status (in 1973): Missing In Action Category: 4 Acft/Vehicle/Ground: O1G Refno: 1422 Other Personnel in Incident: Arthur G. Ecklund (missing)

Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 01 July 1990 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 2020.

REMARKS:

SYNOPSIS: On April 3, 1969, U.S. Army 1Lt. Arthur G. Ecklund and his U.S.
Air Force observer, Capt. Perry H. Jefferson, were flying a visual
reconnaissance mission out of Phan Rang airbase. They left the base at 0700
hours in an O1G aircraft (serial #51-12078) and reported in by radio at 0730
hours giving their location, destination and information concerning a convoy
they were going to check out. No further communication was heard, except for
a signal "beeper".

Extensive search efforts began at 0950 hours with all available aircraft,
and continued for three days without success. The aircraft is believed to
have occurred in an area occupied by enemy forces, thus preventing a ground
search.
 
On April 15, 1969, a Vietnamese source reported that he had been in contact
with a communist Montagnard who claimed the Viet Cong had shot down an
aircraft with two Americans in it, and the Americans had been wounded, but
were alive, and being held in captivity. He said the aircraft was shot down
between Phan Rang and Cam Ranh City. A later report indicated that two men
fitting the description of Ecklund and Jefferson were seen on a trail being
guarded by Viet Cong, and that they appeared to be in good health.

The U.S. Defense Department list Jefferson's loss coordinates near the
coastline of Vietnam, about 20 miles south of Cam Ranh, while Ecklund's loss
coordinates are listed about 10 miles southwest of Cam Ranh and about 15
miles northwest of those of Jefferson. Both men are listed as lost in Ninh
Thuan Province, South Vietnam.

The presence of the reports of captivity and the emergency radio "beeper"
lends weight to the fact that the two men were captured. There can be no
question that the Vietnamese know the fate of two men. As reports concerning
Americans still alive in Southeast Asia continue to flow in, it becomes
increasingly more important to find out what happened to the men we left
behind.

 

39 years later, a military burial By Anne C. Mulkern The Denver Post Article Last Updated: 04/03/2008 06:56:13 PM MDT Related Articles Apr 4: Vietnam vet recalled in poignant service Apr 2: Vietnam vets pay tribute 39 years later ARLINGTON, VA. — Thirty-nine years to the day from when he disappeared in Vietnam, Colorado's Maj. Perry Henry Jefferson today received a burial with full military honors. ... Anne C. Mulkern: 202-662-8907 or  amulkern@denverpost.com

‘We’ll always have questions’ Posted: Monday, April 07, 2008 8:34 AM By John Rutherford, NBC News producer WASHINGTON – We'll probably never know what really happened to Air Force Maj. Perry Jefferson and Army 1st Lt. Arthur Ecklund. ....... John Rutherford is an NBC News Producer based out of the Washington, D.C. bureau and is a decorated Vietnam veteran. He also posts stories on the military at www.dailynightly.msnbc.com (click on "John Rutherford" under "categories").

http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_11527529   http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_11532895

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01/2020

https://dpaa.secure.force.com/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt000000pHKxFEAW

MAJ PERRY HENRY JEFFERSON

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• Conflict
• Service
• Status
• Date of Accounting

• VIETNAM WAR
• UNITED STATES AIR FORCE
• Accounted For
• 08/28/2007

On August 28, 2007, the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC, now DPAA) identified the remains of Major Perry Henry Jefferson, missing from the Vietnam War.

Major Jefferson joined the U.S. Air Force from Colorado and was a member of the 120th Tactical Fighter Squadron. On April 3, 1969, he was a crew member aboard an O-1G Bird Dog that took off on a visual reconnaissance mission over mountainous territory in Ninh Thuan Province, Vietnam. The Bird Dog crashed into a mountainside during the mission, killing all those aboard. Immediate search efforts found no sign of the aircraft or its occupants. After the war, joint U.S. and Vietnamese search teams located and excavated the Bird Dog's crash site, but found no remains there. However, in 2001, a Vietnamese national living in California turned over human remains to U.S. officials that he claimed were recovered at a site where two U.S. pilots crashed. In 2007, modern forensic techniques were able to identify the remains as those of Maj Jefferson. 

Major Jefferson 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.

 

Maj PERRY HENRY JEFFERSON

• Unit
• Historical Country of Loss
  South Vietnam
• Current Country of Loss
  VIETNAM
• Home of Record CO