The human remains of an American serviceman previously
unaccounted-for from the war in Southeast Asia have been
identified and are being returned to his family for burial in the
United States.
He is 1st Lt. Gary P. Offutt, U.S. Air Force, of
Stewartsville, Mo.
On October 1, 1965, Offutt was piloting the second of four F-
100 Super Sabres on a strike mission 20 miles west of Can Tho,
South Vietnam. As he was climbing out of a third strafing run at
approximately 2,000 feet, Offutt's plane went into an inverted
dive. The pilot of another F-100 in the flight radioed Offutt to
eject. He saw that Offutt was able to jettison his canopy, but
was unable to eject before the aircraft crashed in a near-
vertical dive. Immediate attempts to recover the remains were
hampered due to enemy activity in the area.
Four joint U.S.-Socialist Republic of Vietnam teams
conducted investigations and excavations at the crash site in
1993, 1994, and 1995. They recovered aircraft wreckage, life-
support and crew-related materials, as well as human remains.
With the identification of this serviceman, 2,127 Americans
remain unaccounted-for from the war in Vietnam.
The U.S. government welcomes and appreciates the cooperation
of the government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam which
resulted in the accounting of this airman. We hope that such
cooperation will bring increased results in the future.
Achieving the fullest possible accounting for these Americans is
of the highest national priority.
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