Remains of Vietnam War soldier killed in helicopter crash identified

The remains of an American soldier killed in a helicopter crash during the Vietnam War have been identified, according to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency.

Army Pfc. Thomas F. Green of Romana, California, was the door gunner on a CH-47B Chinook helicopter flying a supply mission from Tuy Hoa to Cam Rahn Bay, Vietnam, Oct. 26, 1971, when it crashed over water, according to the agency. At the time, Green was assigned to the 68th Aviation Company, 52nd Aviation Battalion, 17th Aviation Group.

During search and rescue operations, remains of only four of the 10 soldiers on board were recovered, and Green’s was not among them, the agency said in a statement.

Three years later, divers attempted to recover additional remains but were unsuccessful. It was not until June 2021 when divers found possible human remains and material evidence from what was believed to be the crash site.

Agency scientists used DNA analysis and anthropological analysis, as well as material and circumstantial evidence, to identify Green’s remains on Aug. 23, 2022.

Green is memorialized at 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. In both places, a rosette will be placed by Green’s name on to indicate he has been accounted for.

Green will be buried in Ramona, California, on Feb. 23, 2023.