THE WALL OF FACES

Thank you for your service to our country so long ago sir. I am heartened you returned home after the passage of so many years though I wish it had been under very different circumstances. May you rest in eternal peace.

April 4, 1970, 1LT John E. Duffy was the pilot of a U.S. Air Force Cessna O-2A Skymaster (#68-11058) from the 20th Tactical Air Support Squadron, call sign Jake 12, on a mission to ferry the aircraft from Da Nang Airbase to Quang Ngai Airbase. Duffy departed Da Nang at 11:40 AM with fuel for about five hours of flight. At 12:10 PM, Duffy contacted his Tactical Air Control Party (TACP) at Quang Ngai and requested permission to conduct some visual reconnaissance in the area west of Quang Ngai; permission was granted. Thirty minutes later, he radioed TACP that he was over Ba To Special Forces Camp and was going to proceed along the valley to Gia Vuc Special Forces Camp in Kontum Province. Weather at the time was about 1800 feet overcast. Duffy stated that if he could not reach Gia Vuc, he would return to the coast. At 12:57 PM, the TACP called Jake 12 and requested him to return to base. Jake 12 replied he could not read the transmission and please say again. A second reconnaissance aircraft in the vicinity, Jake 19, picked up the transmission and relayed the instructions from TACP to Jake 12. Jake 12 replied he still could not read the transmissions. This was the last contact with Jake 12. It is believed that shortly thereafter, Duffy’s aircraft impacted a hillside five miles southwest of Gia Vuc. When Jake 12 failed to return to Quang Ngia, the Squadron was notified, and an aerial search was initiated. Jake 19 covered the route that Jake 12 said he was flying but could find no trace of any aircraft. Several other aircraft were called into the area at 2:00 PM to assist with the search but were hampered by lowering ceilings. Search efforts continued until 11:00 AM on April 5, 1970, without success. In September 1994, a joint U.S. and Socialist Republic of Vietnam team excavated a crash site and recovered items sufficient to correlate them to the missing aircraft. It was announced on February 12, 1996, that remains repatriated from the crash site were positively identified as Duffy’s. They were interred at Arlington National Cemetery. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org]

According to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) website at the below link, the remains of former MIA Captain John Everett Duffy, USAFA Class of 1968, USAF, were accounted for on 12 February 1996:

https://dpaa.secure.force.com/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt000000sxxK6EAI

The latest DPAA update (15 January 2021) lists 1,053 Americans accounted for in Southeast Asia from the Vietnam War. Capt. Duffy is one of those 1,053 Americans (513 from the U.S. Air Force).

https://www.dpaa.mil/Portals/85/VietnamAccounting/pmsea_acc_ALL_20210115.pdf

https://www.dpaa.mil/portals/85/VietnamAccounting/pmsea_acc_AIR%20FORCE_20210115.pdf

The latest DPAA update (15 January 2021) lists 1,585 Americans unaccounted for in Southeast Asia from the Vietnam War.

https://www.dpaa.mil/Portals/85/VietnamAccounting/pmsea_una_ALL_20210115.pdf

Additional information about the brief military career of former MIA Captain John Everett Duffy, USAFA Class of 1968 - whose name is on the USAFA Memorial Wall - is available at this link/URL on the U.S. Air Force Academy Library website:

http://memwall.usafalibrary.com/#memwallhomepage

Then search, alphabetically, for the name of John Duffy, USAFA Class of 1968, to learn more information about this Vietnam War former MIA/Fallen Hero.

Information about the shoot-down of an O-2A Skymaster prop aircraft from the 20 TASS piloted by former MIA 1st Lt John Everett Duffy, USAFA Class of 1968, in Southeast Asia (SEA) (over South Vietnam) on 4 April 1970 is available at this link/URL on the Vietnam Air Losses website:

https://vietnamairlosses.com/loss.php?id=2520

While in MIA status, the U.S. Air Force promoted 1st Lt Duffy to Captain along with his Air Force Academy classmates.