WOODS, ROBERT FRANCIS

Remains Returned

Name: Robert Francis Woods
Branch/Rank: United States Air Force/O4
Unit:
Date of Birth: 10 July 1929
Home City of Record: SALT LAKE CITY UT
Date of Loss: 26 June 1968
Country of Loss: North Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 170152 North  1063255 East
Status (in 1973): Killed In Action/Body Not Recovered
Category: 2
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: O2A
Missions:
Other Personnel in Incident:
Refno:

Source: Compiled by P.O.W. NETWORK from one or more of the following: raw
data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA
families, published sources, interviews and CACCF = Combined Action
Combat Casualty File. 2020

REMARKS:

CACCF/CRASH/AIRCREW/20 YRS UNITED STATES AIR FORCE

No further information available at this time.
 

IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 1364-07
November 30, 2007

Pilots Missing From The Vietnam War Are Identified

The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of two U.S. servicemen, missing from the Vietnam War, have been identified.

They are Maj. Robert F. Woods, of Salt Lake City, Utah, and Capt. Johnnie C. Cornelius, of Maricopa County, Ariz., both U.S. Air Force. Cornelius was buried with full military honors on Nov. 10 in Moore, Texas, and Woods' burial is being set by his family.

On June 26, 1968, Woods and Cornelius were flying a visual reconnaissance mission over Quang Binh Province, Vietnam, when their O-2A Skymaster aircraft crashed in a remote mountainous area. The crew of another aircraft in the flight saw no parachutes and reported hearing no emergency beeper signals. Immediate search efforts were unsuccessful.

Between 1988 and 1993, joint U.S./Socialist Republic of Vietnam (S.R.V.) teams, led by the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC), investigated the incident and surveyed the crash site. The team interviewed several Vietnamese citizens, two of whom turned over human remains and the pilots' identification tags.

Between 1994 and 1997, joint teams re-surveyed the site two times to find a landing location to support a helicopter and recovery team. During their survey, one team found additional wreckage and life-support material.

Between 2000 and 2004, joint teams excavated the site four times. They recovered additional human remains, personal effects and life support materials.

In 2006, a joint team interviewed two former North Vietnamese soldiers who recalled the crash. The soldiers said that Woods and Cornelius were buried near the crash site. In 2007, another joint team excavated the burial site identified by the Vietnamese soldiers. The team recovered additional human remains.

Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from JPAC and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory also used mitochondrial DNA and dental comparisons in the identification of the remains.

 

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02/2020

MAJ ROBERT FRANCIS WOODS

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On October 12, 2007, the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC, now DPAA) identified the remains of Major Robert Francis Woods, missing from the Vietnam War.

Major Woods joined the U.S. Air Force from Utah and was a member of the 20th Tactical Air Support Squadron. On June 26, 1968, he was an observer aboard an O-2A Skymaster on a visual reconnaissance mission over Quang Binh Province, Vietnam. The Skymaster crashed in a remote stretch of mountains during the mission, and both crew members were killed. Immediate recovery efforts were unsuccessful. After the war, joint U.S. and Vietnamese search teams conducted several investigations into the loss of the Skymaster, locating the crash site and interviewing local witnesses. These efforts resulted in the recovery of human remains from the site. In 2007, modern forensic techniques were able to identify Maj Woods from among the remains recovered.

Major Woods is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. 

If you are a family member of this serviceman, you may contact your casualty office representative to learn more about your service member.