KIEFFER, WILLIAM LEWIS JR.

Name: William Lewis Kieffer Jr.
Branch/Rank:  United States Air Force/O5
Unit:
Date of Birth: 19 August 1924
Home City of Record: GREENBELT MD
Date of Loss: 11 February 1970
Country of Loss: LAOS
Loss Coordinates: 192959 North  1030857 East
Status (in 1973): Killed In Action/Body Not Recovered
Category: 2
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: A1E #135195
Missions:
Other Personnel in Incident:
Refno: 1558

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/PILOT/26 YRS USAF

No further information available at this time.

 

03/05/2011

One bracelet, two men
Lompoc Record
.....This month, Balts, who has worn the silver bracelet remembering the Vietnam War-era officer for more than two decades, will escort home Kieffer’s recently identified remains.....

 
11/17/2011
Valley honors its vets
Santa Ynez Valley News
For more than 20 years, Balts wore a silver POW/MIA bracelet with Kieffer's name on it. In March 2011, Balts had the honor of escorting Kieffer's remains ...
 

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01/2020

https://dpaa.secure.force.com/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt000000ork9PEAQ

LT COL WILLIAM LEWIS KIEFFER JR.

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On June 1, 2010, the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC, now DPAA) identified the remains of Lieutenant Colonel William Lewis Kieffer Jr., missing from the Vietnam War.
 
Lieutenant Colonel Kieffer entered the U.S. Air Force from Maryland and was a member of the 1st Special Operations Squadron. On February 11, 1970, he piloted an A1-E Skyraider (tail number unknown) on a combat mission over Laos. During an attack run against enemy troops threatening friendly ground forces in Xiangkhoang Province, his aircraft was hit by small arms fire and crashed, killing Lt Col Kieffer. Friendly forces in the area were unable to reach the crash site due to heavy enemy fire, and they could not recover Lt Col Kieffer's remains at that time. However, between 1993 and 2009, joint U.S./Laotian investigative teams recovered human remains, aircraft wreckage, crew-related equipment, and personal effects from the crash site, and modern forensic technology was able to identify Lt Col Kieffer from among the remains.

Lieutenant Colonel Kieffer is memorialized in 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.