SHINE, ANTHONY CAMERON

Remains Returned 09/96

Name: Anthony Cameron Shine
Rank/Branch: O3/US Air Force
Unit:
Date of Birth: 20 May 1939
Home City of Record: Pleasant NY
Date of Loss: 02 December 1972
Country of Loss: North Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 193000N 1041000E (VG157405)
Status (in 1973): Missing In Action
Category: 4
Acft/Vehicle/Ground: A7D
Refno: 1677
Other Personnel In Incident: none missing
 

Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 01 April 1991 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 2025.

REMARKS:

SYNOPSIS: George and Helen Shine raised their children to love their
country. George retired from the Air Force as a Colonel, and all their four
children entered the military. Their daughter was an officer in the Army
Nurse Corps. Their three sons served in Vietnam.

While Tony Shine was serving his first term in Vietnam in 1970, his younger
brother Jonathan was killed. Tony escorted his brother's body home for
burial at West Point. His other brother was wounded during his Vietnam
service. George and Helen kept the faith with their country.

In 1972, Tony was flying an A7D fighter/bomber on a mission near the
Barthelemy Pass in North Vietnam when his plane disappeared through the
clouds. The passes through the mountains that border the Lao/Vietnamese
borders were heavily concentrated with enemy missile and AAA sites and NVA
logistics facilities and were frequent bombing targets. Of the many
Americans lost near these passes, few returned. Search was difficult not
only because the enemy was present, but also because the terrain is
incredibly rugged.

A three-day search proved futile, and Tony was listed Missing In Action.
George and Helen Shine continued to look for answers. Their early daydreams
of going "into the jungle to look for him" have been replaced by the sad
realization that they "think we'll just never know" what happened to their
son.

Shine's daughter, Colleen, joined the fight when she was old enough to
understand what had happened to her father. Although her grandfather, George
Shine has since died, she continues to look for answers.

Whether Tony Shine survived that mission in December 1972 is not known. What
is clear, however, is that many who are missing did survive. Where are they
now? Why haven't we been able to bring them home?

Anthony C. Shine was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel during the
period he was maintained Missing in Action.

 
http://www.thestate.com/2013/04/05/2708648/shine-remembers-myrtle-beach-air.html
 
 Commitment to family after father went MIA never forgotten

By Brad Dickerson — bdickerson@thesunnews.com

MYRTLE BEACH — Colleen Shine was 8 years old the last time she saw her father alive.

Lt. Col. Anthony Shine was taking off from the former Myrtle Beach Air Force Base in the
fall of 1972 for his second  tour of duty in Vietnam. He wouldn't return for 24 years.

"My mom gives him the thumbs up and we kids waved and blew kisses as his plane flew
overhead and into the wild blue  yonder," Shine said in a 2008 speech when a POW/MIA
flag was raised in The Market Common.

Anthony Shine was declared missing in action on Dec. 2, 1972. His family spent the next
24 years wondering just what happened to him.....

Along with her father-in-law, and later her daughter, Bonnie contributed directly and powerfully to the National League of POW/MIA Families' (www.pow-miafamilies.org) efforts to achieve the fullest possible accounting for Americans prisoner or missing from the Vietnam War, often serving as a front line ...

Two years later, his older brother Anthony, an Air Force fighter pilot, disappeared after a bombing mission over North Vietnam and was MIA for 25 years until his few remains were recovered due to the perseverance of his daughter and the work of the recovery teams. Jon is buried in the West Point ...

07/10/2024
His remains were identified in 1996. Both have long been involved with the National League of POW/MIA Families and the U.S. Defense Department's ...

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02/2020

https://dpaa.secure.force.com/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt000000utYjAEAU

LT COL ANTHONY CAMERON SHINE

Return to Service Member Profiles

On August 2, 1996, the Joint Task Force-Full Accounting (JTF-FA, now DPAA) identified the remains of Lieutenant Colonel Anthony Cameron Shine, missing from the Vietnam War.

Lieutenant Colonel Shine joined the U.S. Air Force from New York and was a member of the 355th Tactical Fighter Squadron. On August 2, 1996, he piloted an A-7D Corsair II (serial number 71-0312) on a reconnaissance and escort mission over Laos. Lieutenant Colonel Shine's aircraft went down during the mission and he was killed in the incident. Search and rescue efforts failed to locate the crash site and recover his remains. In January 1995, the Vietnamese government repatriated a set of remains to the U.S. which forensic analysis was able to identify as those of Lt Col Shine.

Lieutenant Colonel Shine 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.