Скачать или смотреть Ceremony held to honor Ft. Thomas Air Force pilot missing in action for 51 years

FLORENCE, Ky. (WKRC)- Captain Joseph Ross served in the U.S. Air Force. He is one of more than 1,500 servicemen who remain missing from the Vietnam War.

The Highlands High School graduate was last seen 51 years ago when the plane he was in crashed.

"He was my idol. He was my hero. He was just super," Stephen Ross, Joseph's brother said.

Stephen is a few years younger than Joseph.

"He was a football and track star at Highlands and all he thought about all the way through high school was, 'I want to be a fighter pilot,'" Ross said.

The Kentucky Rolling Thunder chapter 5 created a wreath for Ross to lay at the Prisoner of War and Missing in Action Monument in Florence.

The group also provided an account of the final day of Capt. Ross’ life:

“On 1 August 1968, Colonel Thompson, aircraft commander, and Captain Joseph Ross, pilot, comprised the crew of a McDonnell F4D Phantom jet, call sign 'Coach 1', that was the lead aircraft in a flight of two.

The flight departed DaNang Airbase, South Vietnam on a night armed reconnaissance mission over Quang Binh Province, North Vietnam.

Enroute to their assigned area, they were diverted by command to check out suspected truck traffic in the vicinity of their original target.

Coach 1 dropped several sets of illumination flares that allowed them to confirm North Vietnamese truck traffic.

At 0310 hours, Colonel Thompson told Coach 2, their wingman, to circle the area while he made a bombing pass on the trucks.

As the wingman circled the area, he noted a large explosion within several hundred feet of the moving targets.

The crew of Coach 2 immediately attempted to establish contact with Coach 1, but was unable to do so.

In the darkness, the crew of Coach 2 saw no parachutes and heard no emergency beepers.

At daybreak, an airborne command post monitored emergency electronic signals seemingly coming from the crash site.

Further search efforts could not establish the whereabouts or source of those signals.

Likewise, they found no trace of the aircraft's wreckage. Search and rescue efforts were terminated on 6 August and both William Thompson and Joseph Ross were listed as 'Missing in Action'.

Colonel Thompson and Captain Ross are two of the 1588 Servicemen that remain missing from the Vietnam War today.”

The group does these ceremonies to remind the public, but more importantly the families, that their loved ones are not forgotten.

"For 51 years, this family really has been missing their loved one. It's his brother, I can't imagine 51 years without my brother," Kentucky Rolling Thunder Chapter 5 Public Information Officer, Todd Matonich said.

The KY Rolling Thunder has done these ceremonies for the other 13 Kentucky families with a loved one still missing in action.

"Being able to hold these [missing in action] ceremonies and remembrance ceremonies is huge to the public but it's also extremely unforgettable for the families and we plan on holding these every year on their [missing in action] dates for all 14," Matonich said.

The group brought a special gift back for Ross from the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington D.C.

"It actually resembles a scratching off the wall. The names are not stitched. Everything around the name is stitched. So, it has the depth like the wall does," Matonich said. "It's incredible. It's very emotional to be able to do that and bring that back and put it in stitching and actually hand it to the family member.”

"This scratching means a lot just because of who it came from. It came from the Rolling Thunder group and what they did to go [to Washington D.C.] to get it, it's really super," Ross said.

Ross couldn't believe how many folks came out just for his brother and his family.

"I was in tears because it really surprised me because there some friends, high school friends, people I grew up with that I haven't seen. Some of them I haven't seen in over 40 years and it was terrific. It was very special," Ross said.

Even though it's been more than 50 years, Stephen thinks about his brother every day.

"I'm hoping someday, hopefully, I'll put that to rest. Hopefully, they will find his remains," Ross said.