Fallen pilot laid to rest after 43 years

  • Published
  • By Christin Michaud
  • Air Force Mortuary Affairs Operations Public Affairs
DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. (AFNS) --  Since 1977 a marker in memory of Air Force Col. Gilbert S. Palmer Jr. sat upon a hill for the pilot who went missing in action Feb. 27, 1968. Now, more than 43 years later, Palmer's remains have been returned to his family for proper burial in Arlington with full military honors.

More than 30 friends and family members filled the post chapel at Arlington National Cemetery to pay their respects to the Vietnam War pilot Nov. 1.

Palmer and one other crew member, both assigned to the 14th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron in Thailand, were carrying out photo-reconnaissance of enemy targets in Quang Binh, North Vietnam, in their RF-4C aircraft. After losing radio communication, Palmer's plane crashed in an unknown location.

Meanwhile, the family left behind waited and wondered until in 1999, when a U.S./Lao People's Democratic Republic recovery team, led by the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, was taken by a local villager to a crash site in Savannakhet Province, near the Vietnamese border. Aircraft wreckage from an RF-4 reconnaissance aircraft was found. Additional investigations of the crash site, between 2001 and 2010, recovered human remains and military equipment specific to Palmer's aircraft.

"The Air Force went back and found him and never gave up looking," said Stephen Palmer, his oldest son.

In addition to forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from the JPAC and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory used mitochondrial DNA, which matched that of Palmer's brother Jim, in the identification of the remains. His remains were identified on May 19, 2011.

In addition to locating Palmer's remains, a lighter was recovered in the crash site.

"Although it showed signs of corrosion from being exposed to the outdoor elements, the family was able to distinctly recognize it as Colonel Palmer's lighter," said Ruben Garza, of the Air Force Mortuary Affairs Operations Past Conflicts Branch.

Stephen Palmer said he remembers when his father would open and close that very lighter when talking with him and his brother as children.

"It definitely helps bring closure," said Stephen, who was not quite a teenager when his father's plane went missing in 1968. "This has been an amazing experience."

Col. Patrick Malackowski, the vice commander of the 13th Air Force at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, said escorting Palmer's remains from Hawaii has been a great privilege.
"It's been an extreme honor to bring a service member home after 43 years of waiting," Malackowski said. "And then to see the family's response has just been a marvelous thing."

Garza also said he was humbled and honored to assist the Palmer family with the funeral.

"It makes me proud to know that our nation is committed to locate, identify and bring home our missing in action service members after all these years," he said.

It was inspiring to hear the military escort's experience as he shared with the family the dignity, honor and respect shown from strangers on his way, Garza added.

More than 1,600 Americans remain missing from the Vietnam War. More than 900 servicemen have been accounted for from that conflict and returned to their families for burial with military honors since 1973. Palmer is now one of them. His family now knows underneath a marker in Arlington lies the remains of their father, brother and uncle.

The U.S. government continues to work closely with the governments of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia to recover all Americans lost in the conflict.

(Information courtesy of JPAC)