GRAUSTEIN, ROBERT STEWART

Name: Robert Stewart Graustein
Branch/Rank: United States Navy/O4
Unit: VA 75  USS SARATOGA
Date of Birth: 29 September 1939
Home City of Record: FRYEBURG ME
Date of Loss: 21 December 1972
Country of Loss: North Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 204800 North  1064000 East
Status (in 1973): Presumptive Finding of Death
Category: 2
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: A6A
Missions:
Other Personnel in Incident:
Refno:
 


Official Pre-Capture photos

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:

REMAINS RETURNED 12/04/85

CACCF/CRASH/PILOT/12 YRS United States Navy

No further information available at this time.

 

Subject:   Submission
Date:   Fri, 20 Apr 2018 19:12:19 +0000
From:   William M. Killian <wkillian@pvhspanthers.org>

 

LCDR Robert S. Graustein and LCDR Barton S. Wade were a members of Attack Squadron 75
(VA-75),  Carrier Air Wing Three (CVW-3), aboard the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga (CV-60).
On December 21, 1972, they comprised the crew of a U.S. Navy Grumman A-6A
Intruder (#152946) attack aircraft on a combat mission to attack airfields at Haiphong
and Kien An in North Vietnam. Approximately six miles southwest of Haiphong,
their Intruder was destroyed by an airborne explosion after being hit by ground fire.
When Graustein and Wade failed to return from their mission, it was assumed that
they had been lost in the target area, and the crew was placed in Missing in Action
(MIA) status. None of the American POWs repatriated in February and March of 1973
had any knowledge of the two men, and they were continued in MIA status until the
Secretary of the Navy approved a Presumptive Findings of Death for Graustein on
March 3, 1975, and for Wade on August 24, 1976. On March 7, 1986, the U.S. g
overnment announced that the remains of the two air crewmen were among a group
of remains turned over by the Vietnamese government on December 4, 1985.
[Taken from coffeltdatabase.org, usnamemorialhall.org, and aviation-safety.net]

 

Submitted by William M. Killian

 

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01/2020

https://dpaa.secure.force.com/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt000000rDTT5EAO

LCDR ROBERT STEWART GRAUSTEIN

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On March 7, 1986, the Central Identification Laboratory-Hawaii (CILH, now DPAA) identified the remains of Lieutenant Commander Robert Stewart Graustein, missing from the Vietnam War.

Lieutenant Commander Graustein joined the U.S. Navy from Maine and was a member of Attack Squadron 75. On December 21, 1972, he piloted an A-6A Intruder (bureau number 152946) on a bombing mission against enemy targets near Kien An Airfield. Lieutenant Commander Graustein's Intruder went down during the mission, and he was killed in the incident. His remains could not be recovered at the time. In 1985, a set of unknown remains were turned over to a group of U.S. investigators performing an excavation in Vietnam. Forensic analysis identified LCDR Graustein from among the returned remains. 

Lieutenant Commander Graustein 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.