THE WALL OF FACES

Major East was my Sunday school teacher in high school. He and his wife Mitzi positively impacted a large group of students at Northridge Park Baptist Church in San Antonio.

Thank you for your service, your sacrifice and the example you set for us kids!

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.

Major James Boyd East Jr., Served with the 602nd Special Operations Squadron, 56th Special Operations Wing, 7th Air Force.

Dear Major James East,
Thank you for your service as a Tactical Aircraft Pilot (Various.) I am glad you were identified in 1997. Welcome home. We remember all you who gave their all. It has been too long, and it's about time for us all to acknowledge the sacrifices of those like you who answered our nation's call. Please watch over America, it stills needs your strength, courage and faithfulness. Rest in peace with the angels.

MAJ James B. “J.B.” East was a USAF pilot assigned to the 602nd Special Operations Squadron at Nakhon Phanom Royal Thai Air Force Base in Thailand. On April 26, 1969, MAJ East flew a combat mission over the east side of the Plaine des Jarres in Laos near Lima Site 32, an autonomous radio transmitter that provided pilots with distance and bearings signals. As soon as East arrived in the area he encountered enemy ground fire. While attacking an enemy mortar position, a Laotian soldier saw him fire rockets. Then a fire started in his wing area next to the rocket pod and the wing sheared off. The aircraft crashed and exploded. No parachute was observed nor an emergency beeper heard. MAJ East was listed as Missing in Action. In 1994, a Lao witness identified a possible crash site associated with that of East. A joint U.S./Lao Recovery Team excavated the site later that year and found aircraft wreckage, pilot-related items, and human bone fragments. Mitochondrial DNA testing in 1997 was used to confirm MAJ East’s identification. [Taken from pownetwork.org and the book Cheating Death by George J. Marrett]