DAVIS, EDGAR FELTON

RIP  ID announced 01/18/18

Name: Edgar Felton Davis
Rank/Branch: O3/US Air Force
Unit: 11th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron, Udorn Airfield, Thailand
Date of Birth: 15 December 1935
Home City of Record: Goldsboro NC
Date of Loss: 17 September 1968
Country of Loss: Laos
Loss Coordinates: 162900N 1061500E (XD380370)
Status (in 1973): Missing In Action
Category: 2
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: RF4C
Refno: 1279
Other Personnel in Incident: Captain Leighton Davis - pilot, rescued.

Source: Compiled from one or more of the following: raw data from U.S.
Government agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA families,
published sources, interviews. Updated by the P.O.W. NETWORK in 2018.

REMARKS:

SYNOPSIS: The RF4C was a modification of the McDonnell Douglas Phantom II
fighter/bomber jet used extensively in Souteast Asia. The RF4C was equipped
with photographic and electronic detection equipment and used for
reconnaissance. Inherent hazards were the twin vapor trails enabling the
craft to be seen from a distance, and ejecting photo flash cartridges, which
gave necessary light, but also signalled the position of the aircraft.

Ed Davis was the "backseater" on such an aircraft when it was shot down
during an operational mission about 15 miles south of the city of Sepone in
Savannakhet Province, Laos on September 17, 1968. The pilot of the aircraft
ejected successfully and was subsequently rescued, but Davis was not
located.

Ed Davis had special electronic training that made him particularly valuable
to the Air Force. It also made him potentially valuable to the enemy.
Statistical research shows that in similar flight teams, the survival and
release rate of the pilots far exceeds that of their specially trained
backseathers. It is thought that many of these men were captured and held
beyond the end of the war for their technical ability, and that some were
transferred to other countries, such as the Soviet Union in trade for
enormous war debts. Certain U.S. Government analysts called these men "MB"
or "Moscow Bound".

Whether Ed Davis survived to be captured and saved for his technical ability
is not known. He is one of nearly 600 Americans lost in Laos who never
returned. Although the Pathet Lao stated on several occasions that they held
American POWs, they insisted that the U.S. deal directly with them for their
release. The U.S. has never negotiated with the Pathet Lao for the freedom
of Americans held there.

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From: Duus, Kristen L SFC USARMY DPAA EC (US) [mailto:kristen.l.duus.mil@mail.mil]
Sent: 18 January, 2018 13:13
To: Undisclosed recipients:
Subject: Airman Killed During the Vietnam War Accounted For (Davis, E.)

 

Dear Sir/Ma'am,

 

Air Force Col. Edgar F. Davis, killed during the Vietnam War, has now been

accounted for.  Air Force Col. Edgar F. Davis, killed during the Vietnam

War, has now been accounted for.

http://www.dpaa.mil/News-Stories/Recent-News-Stories/Article/1418438/
airman-killed-during-the-vietnam-war-accounted-for-davis-e/

 

On Sept. 17, 1968, Davis was a navigator aboard a RF-4C Phantom

fighter-bomber aircraft, assigned to the 11th Tactical Reconnaissance

Squadron, 432nd Tactical Reconnaissance Wing.  Davis and his pilot were on a

night photo-reconnaissance mission over the Lao People's Democratic Republic

(L.P.D.R.) when they were shot down by anti-aircraft artillery fire.  The

pilot ejected out of the aircraft and was rescued, however no contact could

be established with Davis.  Because of this, he was declared missing in

action.  Search and rescue efforts were suspended after failing to locate

Davis or the aircraft wreckage.  Davis was later declared deceased.

 

Interment services are pending; more details will be released 7-10 days

prior to scheduled funeral services.

 

DPAA is grateful to Stony Beach and the government of Laos for their

partnerships in this recovery.

 

Davis' name is recorded on the Courts of the Missing at the National

Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, along with the others

unaccounted-for from the Vietnam War. A rosette will be placed next to his

name to indicate he has been accounted for.

 

For more information about DPAA, visit www.dpaa.mil, find us on social media

at www.facebook.com/dodpaa, or call 703-699-1420.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency lists 1,600 Americans as unaccounted for in Southeast Asia as a result of the Vietnam War, including 38 from North Carolina. The agency removes the names of those who are found and places them on another list. Davis became the 27th man to join the list of ...
 
 

 
... attack on the U.S. Navy base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in 1941. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency two years ago dug up 388 sets of remains from a Hawaii cemetery after determining that advances in forensic science and genealogical help from families could make identifications possible.
 

 
The pilot of his Phantom fighter-bomber ejected and was rescued, but Davis was never found until a villager turned over bone fragments in 2015. The Defense Department's POW/MIA Accounting Agency reports that since Davis's remains were positively identified at the end of last year, more than three ...
 
MIA investigators found a villager in 2015 who reported the burial location of a U.S. service member. ... The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency two years ago dug up 388 sets of remains from a Hawaii cemetery after determining that advances in forensic science and genealogical help from families ...
 
She had newspaper clippings, family photos, a 50-year-old letter and a worn, silver POW/MIA bracelet engraved with the name of a warrior whose plane .... According to the Department of Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, American and Laotian investigators visited a crash site thought to be Davis' ...

 

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