The remains of an Air Force officer declared missing in action after a 1966 mission over North Vietnam have been identified.
The Claremore (Oklahoma) Daily Progress reports that Air Force Col. Ronald Scott’s remains will arrive in Claremore next week. He’ll be honored with a graveside service Sept. 22.
The Oklahoma native was the aircraft commander and wingman of an F-4C Phantom II as part of a two-aircraft reconnaissance mission on March 15, 1966, the Defense POW and MIA Accounting Agency said in an August release announcing the identification of Scott’s remains. The pilot of Scott’s aircraft radioed the other plane to say he was about to strafe two trucks in the target area; the pilot in the other plane saw an explosion near the target shortly thereafter, and no trace of Scott’s aircraft.
Fighting in the area made a search impossible, per the agency’s release, and Scott was declared missing in action later that year.
A mission the month before would earn Scott a posthumous Silver Star. On Feb. 25, 1966, near Hanoi, then-Capt. Scott “flew his aircraft at levels of twenty-five to fifty feet with unerring accuracy through extremely heavy and accurate anti-aircraft fire over forbidding and hostile terrain to two different targets” as a member of 8th Tactical Fighter Wing, according to his Silver Star citation. “Despite the extreme hazards involved, the mission was executed exactly as planned.”
Scott’s remains were identified through DNA analysis, dental analysis and other circumstantial evidence.
He is survived by two sons, Ron and Mark Scott.
