Remains of airmen MIA since 1966 identified

The Defense Department’s POW/Missing Personnel Office has identified remains of two airmen missing in action from the Vietnam War, officials said Thursday.

Lt. Col. Charles M. Walling of Phoenix and Maj. Aado Kommendant of Lakewood, N.J., will be honored Aug. 8 at Arlington National Cemetery, Va., in a group burial — the 46th anniversary of the fatal crash. Remains of Walling will also be buried in a separate ceremony Friday at Arlington.

Walling and Kommendant were flying an F-4C aircraft on Aug. 8, 1966, when their plane crashed while on a close air support mission over Song Be Province, Vietnam, officials said. Other Americans in the area reported seeing the aircraft crash and no parachutes were deployed, but search and rescue efforts were not successful in the days following the crash, DoD said.

A joint U.S.-Vietnam team first excavated the site in 1994 and found Walling’s dog tag and other military equipment, military officials said. Another excavation two years ago recovered the remains and additional evidence, officials said.

DNA from Walling’s sister was used to help identify the remains