THE WALL OF FACES

Say not in grief he is no more, but live in thankfulness that he was.

Dear LTC John Kwortnik, Thank you for your service as a Supersonic Interceptor Pilot. I am get you were identified in 1985. Welcome home. Saying thank you isn't enough, but it is from the heart. The time passes quickly. Please watch over America, it stills needs your strength, courage, guidance and faithfulness. Rest in peace with the angels.

SYNOPSIS: Captain John Charles Kwortnik United States Air Force, was awarded the Silver Star for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in connection with military operations against the enemy while serving with friendly foreign forces in Southeast Asia on 1 August 1966.
See https://valor.militarytimes.com/hero/78539

I remember cousin Jack as an amazing larger than life "hero". He came to visit his Uncle Walter ( my father ) and our family several times as I was growing up in Tucson Az. I was 11 years old when his plane went down in Vietnam on August 1 1966 and we got word that Jack was missing. The TV news was the war every night and I was just beginning to understand a little of what I was seeing. But it wasn't until 4 years later that I finally grasped what had happened to Jack and why. With the help of a friend's mother I requested a POW / MIA bracelet but was told that Jack's death wasn't officially listed as either POW or MIA or KIA.??? I was devastated all over again.
Jack was a scuba diver and dove on sites in Thailand and other SE Asian places. When he visited he brought me beautiful seashells he had collected and Vietnamese dolls in satin oriental dresses for me and my sister. I loved him very much.

Bob Lilac
[email protected]
Was a pilot with me in a F-104 squadron stationed at Udorn Air base in Northern Thailand. He was shot down by a surface to air missile while escorting F-105's on a Wild Weasel mission seeking out and destroying missile sites. We had dinner together the night before he was shot down, talking about the intensity of the defenses we were flying against in North Vietnam. He was a gentle man, trying to do his duty. It was a tragic loss. I do not believe he ever got out of the airplane when it was hit. I was in the flight directly in front of him. We lost two aircraft and pilots the same day.