GOETSCH, THOMAS AUGUST

Name: Thomas August Goetsch
Branch/Rank: United States Navy/E2
Unit:
Date of Birth: 19 February 1953
Home City of Record: MEMPHIS TN
Date of Loss: 17 September 1972
Country of Loss: North Vietnam/Over Water
Loss Coordinates: 190109 North  1074227 East
Status (in 1973): Killed In Action/Body Not Recovered
Category: 5
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: CARRIER
Missions:
Other Personnel in Incident:
Refno:

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/SEA CASUALTY/DROWNED/SUFFOCATED

No further information available at this time.

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01/2020

https://dpaa.secure.force.com/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt00000001UVsEAM

ABHAA THOMAS AUGUST GOETSCH

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Airman Apprentice Thomas August Goetsch, who joined the U.S. Navy from Tennessee, was an elevator operator aboard the USS Kitty Hawk (CVA 63). On September 17, 1972, the Kitty Hawk was conducting night flying operations in the Gulf of Tonkin when AA Goetsch fell overboard in the vicinity of (GC) 48Q YG 850 050. Airman Apprentice Goetsch vanished below the surface before search teams could rescue him. A continued search of the area found no further sign of him, and he remains unaccounted for. Today, Airman Apprentice Goetsch 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 Non-recoverable.

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