{"id":38831,"date":"2017-09-14T14:05:41","date_gmt":"2017-09-14T14:05:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2017\/09\/14\/remains-of-air-force-colonel-killed-in-vietnam-identified\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T03:11:50","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T03:11:50","slug":"remains-of-air-force-colonel-killed-in-vietnam-identified","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/military-honor\/2017\/09\/14\/remains-of-air-force-colonel-killed-in-vietnam-identified\/","title":{"rendered":"Remains of Air Force colonel killed in Vietnam identified"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The remains of an Air Force officer declared missing in action after a 1966 mission over North Vietnam have been identified.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Claremore (Oklahoma) Daily Progress reports<\/a> that Air Force Col. Ronald Scott\u2019s remains will arrive in Claremore next week. He\u2019ll be honored with a graveside service Sept. 22.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Oklahoma native was the aircraft commander and wingman of an F-4C Phantom II as part of a two-aircraft reconnaissance mission on March 15, 1966, the Defense POW and MIA Accounting Agency said in an August release announcing the identification of Scott\u2019s remains. The pilot of Scott\u2019s aircraft radioed the other plane to say he was about to strafe two trucks in the target area; the pilot in the other plane saw an explosion near the target shortly thereafter, and no trace of Scott\u2019s aircraft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fighting in the area made a search impossible, per the agency\u2019s release, and Scott was declared missing in action later that year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A mission the month before would earn Scott a posthumous Silver Star. On Feb. 25, 1966, near Hanoi, then-Capt. Scott \u201cflew his aircraft at levels of twenty-five to fifty feet with unerring accuracy through extremely heavy and accurate anti-aircraft fire over forbidding and hostile terrain to two different targets\u201d as a member of 8th Tactical Fighter Wing, according to his Silver Star citation. \u201cDespite the extreme hazards involved, the mission was executed exactly as planned.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n