KILLIAN, MELVIN JOSEPH

REMAINS RECOVERED 03/20/85

Name: Melvin Joseph Killian
Branch/Rank: United States Air Force/O4
Unit:
Date of Birth: 31 January 1922
Home City of Record: COUNCIL BLUFFS IA
Date of Loss: 30 September 1965
Country of Loss: North Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 201000 North   1060100 East
Status (in 1973): Missing in Action
Category: 2
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: F105D #0117
Missions:
Other Personnel in Incident:
Refno: 0157

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: PROB DEAD

REMAINS RECOVERED 03/20/85
[Buried at Arlington with wife who died ca 1976]

CACCF/CRASH/PILOT

No further information available at this time.

More Info   http://www.veterantributes.org/TributeDetail.php?recordID=501

 

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01/2020

 

https://dpaa.secure.force.com/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt000000paAS8EAM

COL MELVIN JOSEPH KILLIAN

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On April 8, 1985, the Central Identification Laboratory-Hawaii (CILH, now DPAA) identified the remains of Colonel Melvin Joseph Killian, missing from the Vietnam War.

Colonel Killian joined the U.S. Air Force from Iowa and was a member of the 334th Tactical Fighter Squadron. On September 30, 1965, he piloted an F-105D Thunderchief (bureau number 610117) as part of a strike mission against enemy targets in Vietnam. Colonel Killian's aircraft was downed by an enemy surface-to-air missile over the target area, and he was killed in the incident. Immediate search and recovery efforts were unsuccessful. In 1985, Col Killian was identified among a set of remains that the Vietnamese government returned to U.S. custody.

Colonel Killian is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery. 

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