CRUZ RAPHAEL
REMAINS RETURNED 10/30/96
Name: Raphael Cruz
Rank/Branch: E5/United States Air Force
Unit:
Date of Birth: 23 May 1935
Home City of Record: Stockton CA
Date of Loss: 02 September 1963
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates:
Status (in 1973): Killed in Action/Body not recovered
Category: 4
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: B26E
Missions:
Other Personnel in Incident: Neil McKinney, Howard Purcell, Howard Purcell
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. 2020
REMARKS: Last radio contact VIC ZB061805
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MEMORANDUM FOR CORRESPONDENTS October 30,1996
The remains of American servicemen previously unaccounted-for from
Southeast Asia are being returned to their families for burial in the
United States.
The remains have been identified as Capt. Howard P. Purcell, USAF, of
Landsdowne, Pa.; 1 st Lt. Neil B. McKinney, USAF, of Muncie, Ind.; Staff
Sgt. Raphael Cruz, USAF, of Stockton, Calif....
On Sept. 2, 1963, Purcell, McKinney and Cruz were flying aboard a B-26B
aircraft on an air cover mission over Kontum Province, Vietnam. They were
observed by their relief aircraft, but never returned to Da Nang Air Base.
An extensive search and rescue effort failed to locate the missing aircraft.
In 1992, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV) repatriated to the United
States human remains and identification media for all three crew members.
The remains of these three servicemen were identified individually, and are
also part of a group remains identification. Mitochondrial DNA testing was
used to confirm the three identifications.
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01/2020
https://dpaa.secure.force.com/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt000000sPM0wEAG
On October 10, 1996, Joint Task Force-Full Accounting (JTF-FA,
now DPAA) identified the remains of Staff Sergeant Raphael Cruz,
missing from the Vietnam War.
Staff Sergeant Cruz joined the U.S. Air Force from California
and was a member of the 1st Air Commando Squadron. On September
2, 1963, he was the weapons mechanic aboard a B-26 Marauder
(tail number 44-34682) on an air cover mission over Vietnam. The
Marauder went down during its return flight from the mission,
killing SSgt Cruz. Search and rescue efforts failed to locate
the aircraft or its crew at the time. In March 1992, the
Vietnamese government returned a set of remains they associated
with SSgt Cruz. In 1996, U.S. analysts confirmed the
identification of the remains as those of SSgt Cruz.
Staff Sergeant Cruz 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.