CONNER, LORENZA
Remains ID announced 10/08/08
Name: Lorenza Conner
Branch/Rank: United States Air Force/O2
Unit: 555th
Tactical Fighter Squadron
Date of Birth: 19 February 1943
Home City of Record: CARTERSVILLE GA
Date of Loss: 27 October 1967
Country of Loss: North Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 214200 North 1052300 East
Status (in 1973): Presumptive Finding of Death
Category: 2
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: F4D VEH# 7513
Missions:
Other Personnel in Incident: Jon Black, returnee
Refno: 0881
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:
No further information available at this time.
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IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 855-08
October 08, 2008 Pilot Missing in Action From The Vietnam War is Identified The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of a U.S. serviceman, missing in action from the Vietnam War, have been identified and will be returned to his family for burial with full military honors. He is Capt. Lorenza Conner, U.S. Air Force, of Cartersville, Ga. He will be buried Oct. 25 in Cartersville. On Oct. 27, 1967, Conner and his copilot flew an F-4D Phantom II fighter jet in a flight of four on a combat air patrol mission over North Vietnam where the plane was hit by anti-aircraft fire over Tuyen Quang Province, North Vietnam. The copilot ejected safely, was captured and later released by Vietnamese forces, but Conner could not eject from the aircraft before it crashed. In 1992, Vietnamese citizens told U.S. officials that they had information concerning the remains of missing U.S. servicemen and they turned over Conner's identification tag. Between 1992 and 2003, several joint U.S./Socialist Republic of Vietnam (S.R.V.) teams, led by the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC), investigated this incident, interviewed witnesses and surveyed the crash site. At the crash site, teams found aircrew-related equipment and aircraft wreckage consistent with an F-4 Phantom II. In 2007, another joint team excavated the site and recovered human remains. Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from JPAC also used dental comparisons in the identification of Conner's remains. |
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01/2020
https://dpaa.secure.force.com/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt000000oosFREAY
On August 26, 2008, the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC,
now DPAA) identified the remains of Captain Lorenza Conner,
missing from the Vietnam War.
Captain Conner joined the U.S. Air Force from Georgia and was a
member of the 555th Tactical Fighter Squadron. On October 27,
1967, he was the pilot and one of two crew members aboard an
F-4D Phantom II (serial number unknown) on a four-plane combat
air patrol mission over North Vietnam. The Phantom was hit by
anti-aircraft fire over Tuyen Quang Province, North Vietnam, and
crashed. The copilot ejected before impact but was captured by
enemy forces, and was later released back to U.S. custody;
however, Capt Conner was killed in the crash and his remains
were not recovered at the time. After the war, joint
U.S./Vietnamese search teams investigated the incident,
interviewed witnesses, and surveyed the F-4D's crash site. In
2007, the team excavated the site and recovered human remains
that were later identified as those of Capt Conner.
Captain Conner 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.