MCKINNEY, NEIL BARNARD

REMAINS RETURNED 10/30/96

Name: Neil Barnard McKinney
Rank/Branch: O3/United States Air Force
Unit:  Headquarters, 2nd Air Division
Date of Birth: 08 September 1934
Home City of Record: Muncie IN
Date of Loss: 02 September 1963
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates:
Status (in 1973): Killed in Action/Body not recovered
Category: 4
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: B26E
Missions:
Other Personnel in Incident: Raphael Cruz, Howard Purcell

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. 2020

REMARKS: Last radio contact VIC ZB061805
 

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MEMORANDUM FOR CORRESPONDENTS October 30,1996

The remains of American servicemen previously unaccounted-for from
Southeast Asia are being returned to their families for burial in the
United States.

The remains have been identified as Capt.  Howard P. Purcell, USAF, of
Landsdowne, Pa.; 1 st Lt.  Neil B. McKinney, USAF, of Muncie, Ind.; Staff
Sgt. Raphael Cruz, USAF, of Stockton, Calif....

On Sept. 2, 1963, Purcell, McKinney and Cruz were flying aboard a B-26B
aircraft on an air cover mission over Kontum Province, Vietnam.  They were
observed by their relief aircraft, but never returned to Da Nang Air Base.
An extensive search and rescue effort failed to locate the missing aircraft.
In 1992, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV) repatriated to the United
States human remains and identification media for all three crew members.
The remains of these three servicemen were identified individually, and are
also part of a group remains identification.  Mitochondrial DNA testing was
used to confirm the three identifications.

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02/2020

https://dpaa.secure.force.com/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt000000sPM24EAG

1ST LT NEIL BERNARD MCKINNEY

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On October 10, 1996, the Joint Task Force-Full Accounting (JTF-FA, now DPAA) identified the remains of First Lieutenant Neil Bernard McKinney, missing from the Vietnam War.

First Lieutenant McKinney joined the U.S. Air Force from Indiana and was a member of Headquarters, 2nd Air Division. On September 2, 1963, he was the co-pilot of a B-26 Marauder (tail number 44-34682) on an air cover mission over Vietnam. The Marauder went down during its return flight from the mission, killing 1st Lt McKinney. Search and rescue efforts failed to locate the aircraft or its crew at the time. In March 1992, the Vietnamese government returned to U.S. custody a set of remains they had associated with 1st Lt McKinney. In 1996, U.S. analysts confirmed the identification of the remains as those of 1st Lt McKinney.

First Lieutenant MnKinney 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.