ROSATO, JOSEPH FRANK

Name: Joseph Frank Rosato
Branch/Rank: United States Air Force/O3
Unit:  558th Tactical Fighter Squadron
Date of Birth: 31 January 1931
Home City of Record: HUDSON OH
Date of Loss: 02 June 1966
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 144735 North  1075729 East
Status (in 1973): Killed In Action/Body Not Recovered
Category: 2
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: F4C #0744
Missions:
Other Personnel in Incident:
Refno: 0353

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 and CACCF = Combined Action
Combat Casualty File. 2020

REMARKS:

CACCF/CRASH/PILOT/12 YRS UNITED STATES AIR FORCE/KONTUM

No further information available at this time.
 

Subject: Submission
Date: Sun, 8 Sep 2019 22:36:09 +0000
From: William M. Killian <wkillian@smjuhsd.org>


On June 2, 1966, a U.S. Air Force McDonnell Douglas F-4C Phantom II (#64-0744), call sign Boxer 3,
from the 558th Tactical Fighter Squadron, was providing air support for a U.S. Special Forces camp
under attack eleven miles northeast of Dak To in Kontum Province, RVN, when it crashed due to hostile
groundfire. While conducting a bombing run against the enemy forces, it was hit by anti-aircraft fire
and the Phantom reportedly lost both engines forcing the crew to eject. The pilot, CAPT Joseph F. Rosato,
was unable to leave the aircraft due to battle damage to the ejection system and went down with the plane.
The rear seater, LT Charles R. Ogle, successfully ejected and was recovered by a rescue helicopter. A few
days following the incident, a U.S. Special Forces team allegedly reached the crash site and buried “some
remains” near the crashed jet. No sketch or description of the burial site was provided, and the specific unit
designation and names of the Special Forces team are not known. In 1993, the crash site was visited by a
JTF-FA team. They noted its location inside triple-canopy vegetation near a stream which frequently floods.
Numerous aircraft parts and a piece of Nomex flight suit were found during the visit; however, no human
remains were recovered. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org, 12tfw.org, vvmf.org, and combatace.com]


 

Submitted by William M. Killian (September 2019)

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02/2020

https://dpaa.secure.force.com/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt0000000KZApEAO

CAPT JOSEPH FRANK ROSATO

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On June 2, 1966, an F-4C Phantom II (tail number 64-0744) with a crew of two took off on a mission to suppress enemy automatic-weapons positions in South Vietnam. While making a pass over its target area, the Phantom was hit by enemy fire and crashed. The copilot survived the incident and eventually returned to duty; however, the pilot of the aircraft remains unaccounted-for.

Captain Joseph Frank Rosato, who joined the U.S. Air Force from Ohio, was a member of the 558th Tactical Fighter Squadron. He was the pilot of the F-4 when it went down on June 2, 1966, and was lost with the aircraft. His remains have not been recovered. Today, Captain Rosato is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Based on all information available, DPAA assessed the individual's case to be in the analytical category of Active Pursuit.

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