ODESSA, TX – The remains of a Vietnam War pilot from Odessa who went missing while flying over the jungles of northern Vietnam in 1972 have been found and identified decades after his disappearance.
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced today that U.S. Marine Corps Capt. Ronald W. Forrester, 25, of Odessa, Texas, killed during Vietnam has been accounted for.
According to DPAA, in the winter of 1972, Forrester was assigned to Marine All-Weather Attack Squadron 533, Marine Attack Group 12, 1st Marine Air Wing.
Odessa Marine Pilot Accounted for Decades After Vietnam War
Odessa Marine Pilot Accounted for Decades After Vietnam War
On Dec. 27, Forrester was piloting an A-6A Intruder, along with his co-pilot, during a nighttime combat mission over the northern part of the Democratic Republic of (North) Vietnam. After entering the target area, Forrester’s aircraft ceased radio communications and never returned to base.
Search and rescue teams could not locate any trace of the aircraft or the crew in the Le Thuy District, Quang Binh Province. In September 1978, the Marine Corps changed Capt. Forrester’s initial Missing In Action status to Killed in Action.
After decades of investigation into the incident yielding no results, investigators discovered remains and material evidence which is believed to be associated with both missing aviators.
This recovered evidence has been associated with the Reference Number (REFNO) 1973 incident and corresponding crash site (VN-02653). To date, REFNO 1973 is the only A-6 loss within 30 kilometers of the crash site, which the DPAA Indo-Pacific Directorate believes is a direct correlation to the missing Marines.
To identify Forrester’s remains, scientists from DPAA used circumstantial evidence recovered from the crash site, as well as mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) evidence.
Forrester’s name is recorded on the National Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., and the American Battle Monuments Commission’s Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, along with others who are unaccounted for from the Vietnam War. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
Odessa Marine Pilot Accounted for Decades After Vietnam War
Odessa Marine Pilot Accounted for Decades After Vietnam War
Odessa Marine Pilot Accounted for Decades After Vietnam War
Forrester will be buried on Oct. 7, 2024, in Arlington National Cemetery.
For family and funeral information, contact the Marine Corps Casualty Office at (800) 847-1597.
For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for Americans who went missing while serving our country, visit the DPAA website at www.dpaa.mil.
Forrester’s personnel profile can be viewed at https://dpaa-mil.sites.crmforce.mil/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt0000000BTZIEA4.
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