Vietnam-Era Remains of Pilot Identified

The remains of a U.S. serviceman missing in action since the Vietnam War have been identified and returned to his family, the Defense Department said Tuesday.

The remains of Col. David H. Zook of West Liberty, Ohio, will be buried with full military honors, the Pentagon said in a news release.

On Oct. 4, 1967, Zook was flying over Song Be province in South Vietnam when his aircraft collided with another plane in midair, the department said. The pilot of the other plane, who survived, reported Zook’s aircraft hit the ground and exploded. Efforts to locate the colonel’s remains failed.

In 1992, a joint U.S.-Socialist Republic of Vietnam team investigated the incident, interviewed Vietnamese witnesses to the crash and saw remains in the wreckage. Eventually a full excavation of the crash site yielded evidence identified as Zook’s remains, the department said.